Author's Note: Sorry for the late chapter, I had some computer trouble but it was nothing major, so I hope you enjoy this! It's a bit longer than my typical chapters in order to make up for the delay.
When Junji entered the dining room, he immediately noticed two things. Firstly, everyone's place at the table was indicated with upright, neatly folded pieces of paper bearing their names - a typical Miki Takeda-style flourish. Secondly, for the first time that he could remember, his place was set at the head of the table (a spot usually reserved for one of his parents). A bit surprising, but the purpose of this entire event was to celebrate his graduation, so he guessed that made him the man of the hour. He mentally reminded himself to thank his mother when he had the opportunity.
He took his seat, Joji to his right and his aunt Rie to his left, and shortly afterwards Aurora entered the room, carrying the food. Junji did a double-take when he saw that the white-haired persocom was carefully balancing at least a dozen plates, dishes, bowls, and glasses simultaneously, utilizing her hands, arms, and even her head, with some of the dishes even stacked precariously on top of each other.
"Aurora-chan, be careful!" He warned her, but Joji interjected.
"Relax, son, her balance is perfect. I've seen her carry twice this much and she's never spilled so much as a drop."
"Joji-san is right," Aurora confirmed, carefully setting Junji's main course, side dish, and drink on the table in front of him. "My internal stabilizers allow me to correct my orientation once every four nanoseconds, ensuring that I have a negligible chance of dropping anything, except in the event of someone violently pushing me, or an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or higher."
"Impressive," Junji commented, as he took a whiff of his food. It was tonkatsu cutlets with curry rice and shredded cabbage, not his absolute favorite, but it still made his mouth water. He turned to look at the green-haired girl standing behind him and to his left. "You know, I've never seen you do a balancing act like that, Minako," he said. His voice carried a subtle teasing tone that only he and his fiancee could pick up on.
"I could, but I've never exactly had any reason to. When was the last time I needed to carry that many dishes? Especially since you seemingly spent your entire college career subsisting solely on instant ramen, chicken curry, and ice cream."
Junji and his father both chuckled at this, and it was at this point that Miki arrived, taking her place at the opposite end of the table from her son.
"Thanks for preparing this elaborate dinner, mom," Junji said. "I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome, son, it's the least I could do to celebrate your accomplishment," his mother replied, smiling.
"And thank you, Aurora-chan, for cooking it," Junji added. "And to Minako for helping, of course."
For a brief instant, upon hearing this, a look of mild irritation played over Miki's face, but it quickly vanished. Aurora, who was by now placing the final dishes on the table, bowed politely and acknowledged Junji's thanks, as did Minako.
"Where's Satoru?" Asked Rie. "If he doesn't hurry up, his dinner will get cold."
"He told me he wanted to check out his room a bit more, but he assured me he'd be right down," Miki answered.
"Sorry there's no place for you at the table, Minako-chan," Joji said, changing the subject. "I didn't know if you would want one or not, and this table really only seats six people, anyway."
"It's okay, Joji-san," the elven-eared persocom replied. "I don't eat, anyway."
"I've got an idea," Rika chimed in from the threshold to the front hallway. "While the humans are busy, you and I can hang out in the living room. Maybe Aurora-chan can join us when she's done in the kitchen."
"Sounds good to me," Minako replied, following the little 'com out of the room.
Meanwhile, Aurora was in the kitchen, finishing cleaning the cooking utensils she had used to prepare the meal and placing them in the dishwasher, when she heard footsteps descending the stairs.
"Oh, you must be Satoru-san," she said, addressing the boy as he entered from the hallway at the base of the staircase. "Your dinner is ready, and everyone is waiting for you in the dining room."
Ignoring her words, the teenager walked right up to her and started fondling one of her wing-like ears.
"Um... e-excuse me..." she murmured nervously, flustered by this sudden action.
"You're the Takedas' new persocom, aren't you?" He asked.
"Yes," she replied, bowing politely as she dislodged her ear from his grip. "My name is Aurora. I'm pleased to meet you, Sato-"
"You're pretty sexy too," he interrupted her, casting a lascivious look at her chest.
"I-um, t-thank you, Satoru-san..." she said, blushing intensely, her eyes darting to the floor out of embarrassment. Unfortunately for her, this just seemed to egg Satoru on.
"And you're moe, too! So cute!"
"Satoru-san, your dinner-" Aurora tried to remind him, if only to distract him from his unwelcome advances, but he was having none of it.
"Are you programmed for sex?"
"W-What?" She nearly shrieked.
"If not, I know a site where you can download free apps for it. Of course the 'com has to have the right equipment," he continued, gesturing towards the mortified persocom's crotch, "and not all of them do. What about you?"
"S-Satoru-san, that's a really inappropriate thing to ask!" She said, finally mustering up the courage to admonish him for his behavior.
"I'll say it is," a sharp, familiar voice intoned. "Satoru, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
The teenager groaned. "Rika, why do you always have to- Ow! What the hell?" He cried out, as he suddenly found his right ear caught in a vice-like grip. Turning to face his assailant, he found himself looking up into the visage of a very irate Minako.
"You leave her alone, you horny little brat!" she scolded him, walking him to the door while still gripping his ear between her thumb and index finger.
"Aah! Let go, you crazy 'com!" he shouted. "Do you want me to tell your owner that you attacked me?"
Minako decided not to waste time disabusing Satoru of the quaint notion that Junji was her 'owner', so instead she grinned deviously and replied, "That depends. Do you want Aurora-san to replay everything you just said and did to her in front of your parents?"
Satoru gulped nervously, then shook his head, this counter-threat having completely stymied his bluster.
"Satoru, what are you yelling about?" His mother's voice rang out from behind the closed door.
Minako glared at him, her eyes narrowing menacingly. "Uh, it's nothing, mom," he shouted. "I'll be right there!"
Minako finally let go of the boy's ear and lightly pushed him into the dining room with the other humans, but not before giving him another harsh glare.
"T-Thank you, Minako-san," Aurora told the taller 'com, bowing politely.
"Don't mention it," she replied, patting the white-haired girl on the shoulder. "If he bothers you again, just ping me."
"Or me," the laptop added. "I may be small, but he knows better than to piss me off too much."
Minako chuckled at this. "If you're all done in here, Aurora-san, you can come to the living room and chat with Rika and me while the humans eat dinner," she offered.
"Thanks, I'd like that," Aurora said. "I just have to start the dishwasher, then I'll join you."
Minako sat down on a large, comfortable armchair, while Aurora hesitantly took a seat on the couch, Rika hopping up to join her.
"I'm sorry you had to experience that, Aurora-san," Minako consoled the shorter 'com. "Someone seriously needs to teach that kid some manners."
"Hey, I try my best," Rika replied flippantly, "but you know how boys his age are. Raging bags of hormones who can't help thinking with their dicks instead of their heads."
"Oh please, don't give me the old 'boys will be boys' cliche," Minako objected.
"You mean the same cliche you yourself used when he called you hot earlier?" Rika countered.
"Only because that was all he did at the time," Minako explained. "The kind of behavior he demonstrated just now was totally unacceptable!"
The laptop produced two triangular paper fans from underneath her miko outfit and laid back against one of the couch cushions, fanning herself in an overly exaggerated, dramatic manner. "Maybe you're right, but it's not like getting all indignant about it will help things. Anyway, I can tell you scared him pretty badly, I doubt he'll try anything like that again as long as you're around, Minako-san."
"That's exactly the problem," Minako snapped. "What if I'm not around? Satoru-san, and those like him, need to learn to treat other people with respect, even in situations where they would be unlikely to face any consequences for failing to do so."
"In case you've forgotten, we're persocoms, not people," Rika sighed.
"Just because we're persocoms doesn't mean we're not people!" Minako countered. "Besides, I have a feeling Satoru-san's problem runs deeper than that. If Aurora-san was a human girl, I doubt he would have been as bold as he was, but only because he would correctly surmise that he would have less of a chance of getting away with it, not out of any sense of respect for her. Those who only restrain themselves due to fear of punishment are truly despicable."
"Hey, Satoru-kun isn't as bad as you're making him out to be!" Rika stood up, folding away her fans and pointing an accusing finger at the green-haired persocom. "You don't even know him, so don't just sanctimoniously judge him like that. Sure, he can be a pervert and a creep sometimes, but he has his good points, and he's really not such a bad kid overall."
Minako glanced at the laptop with skepticism, but then sighed. "Well, maybe. But if I see or hear about any more inappropriate or offensive behavior from him, you can bet that I won't stand for it."
Aurora, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, spoke up for the first time since it had started.
"Maybe Satoru-san just needs more time to mature, then he can learn how to respect others. Although, the fact that society deems persocoms not worthy of the same dignity as humans is a major obstacle to that. I had never really thought about that in-depth until I read your book, Minako-san."
"Oh, you finished it?" Minako asked. Aurora nodded.
"What did you think?"
"I found it somewhat didactic at points-" Minako scowled slightly - "but otherwise it was very informative and thought-provoking. Although I was troubled about one thing."
"What's that?"
"In the chapter written as advice for persocoms experiencing discrimination, one of your tips was to be more assertive."
"Yes, but I specifically made sure to recommend that only for 'coms whose owners had some regard for them, not for those owned by the kind of people who would potentially hurt or kill them for speaking their minds." Minako clarified.
"That's not the problem," Aurora continued. "I am certain that Joji-san and Miki-sama would never hurt me, but being assertive is... difficult for me. It might be easy for you two-" she turned to regard both Minako and Rika "-but I am not a very assertive person by nature. I become nervous too easily..."
"Hey, it's okay," Minako walked over to sit next to Aurora on the couch, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to comfort the shorter girl. "You just need more practice, that's all! Also, Joji-san is on the level with us, so if you're upset about something you shouldn't be afraid to confide in him. I'm sure he'll be receptive to what you have to say."
"Thank you, I'll remember that, Minako-san," Aurora said, smiling for the first time since the talk had began.
"Maybe we should move the discussion to more pleasant subjects," Rika suggested. "How do you girls think I would look with pierced ears? I've been saving my money for both the procedure and several sets of earrings."
Minako snorted in distaste.
"Something to say?" Rika prompted her.
"I've never seen the appeal, or the point, of pierced ears on persocoms. Unlike humans, the hole won't naturally heal, so if you ever decide that you don't want your ears pierced after all, you'll have to pay for another operation to have them repaired. Not to mention that our ears contain some of our most sensitive components and connections, and I've heard more than a few horror stories about sloppy 'com shops botching the procedure and damaging critical components. If you ask me, clip-ons are the way to go."
"Yeah, maybe you're right," Rika conceded, casually brushing a hand against one of her human-style ears. "Although most of my dataports and connectors are located in the back of my neck, rather than my ears."
"I don't believe such a procedure is even available for my model," Aurora chimed in, "due to the nature of my ears."
"Indeed," said Minako. "I imagine it would be difficult to drill a clean, symmetrical hole through all of those feathers."
"They're not actual feathers," Aurora clarified. "The protruding sections of my ears are composed of a mix of synthetic fibers which-"
Minako laughed before the white-haired 'com could finish her explanation. "I was only speaking colloquially, Aurora-chan! I know they didn't go and pluck some poor bird to make your ears!"
Aurora blushed slightly and looked down towards the floor. "I'm sorry. I suppose I must seem rather naive sometimes."
"Hey, you're only two weeks old," Minako pointed out. "Don't sweat it."
Aurora looked puzzled again. "I do not sweat. My body temperature is regulated by a combination of internal cooling mechanisms, including-"
"Aurora!" Minako cut her off. The white-haired persocom suddenly broke into a playful grin.
"Just kidding!" She giggled. "I got you that time, didn't I?"
All three 'coms couldn't help sharing a laugh at this.
After a few more minutes of idle chatter, Aurora stood up, bowing politely to her two new friends.
"I've enjoyed talking with both of you, but I have to return to the kitchen and start preparing dessert, as I anticipate the humans will be finished with their meal soon."
"Would you like any help?" Minako offered.
"That's okay, it shouldn't take long," Aurora said, leaving the room.
"Well, she seems to be in brighter spirits than before," Rika observed. Minako smiled and nodded in agreement.
Half an hour or so later, after finishing their desserts, the humans finally emerged from the dining room.
"Wow, that hit the spot," Junji said, patting his belly contentedly. "I had forgotten just how much I had missed a good home-cooked meal." He suddenly noticed Minako standing in the living room a few meters in front of him and winced, thinking he had just made another faux pas.
"Uh, not that you're not a good cook or anything, Minako," he tried to cover for himself, "it's just that we rarely had the time or the resources to cook anything approaching a gourmet meal back at the dorm-"
"Relax, Junji!" Minako laughed. "I know what you meant."
"Aurora-chan is a pretty good cook, too," Joji added. "That was one of the main reasons we bought her. Although," he turned to face his wife, "I still prefer your cooking, honey."
"Yes, well, personally I'm glad that I don't have to cook anymore unless I actually want to. It saves me a lot of time," Miki replied.
"You'll still cook for our anniversary, I hope?" Joji asked.
"We'll see," Miki said, smiling, as she gave her husband a quick kiss on the cheek.
After that, everyone spread out into groups around the living room, talking and catching up with each other. Aurora put on some slow music and Minako and Junji showed off their dance moves a bit. Joji, Rie, and Yuu thought it was cute, but Miki scowled and looked away.
Satoru, on the other hand, wasn't paying the others much attention at all, and laid down on the couch, taking out a portable terminal to surf the net. After a while he looked up and noticed his family's laptop had jumped up on the couch next to him.
"Satoru, we need to talk," she began.
"Geez, Rika, what was the deal with Junji's 'com back there?" He muttered, ignoring the laptop's demand. "She's freaking scary!"
"Well it serves you right for harassing Aurora-chan like that," she replied. "Which is exactly what I need to speak to you about."
"What's the matter Rika, jealous?" Satoru laughed.
"As if," Rika answered, putting her hands on her hips and staring him down. "You just need to stop acting like such a creep and embarrassing your parents all the time, not to mention embarrassing me."
"Hah, my PC is ashamed of me," he chuckled. "That's a new one."
"Stop being so incorrigible, Satoru. Just try to behave while we're here, okay?"
The teenager sighed, putting down the terminal. "Fine. Just promise not to sic what's-her-name on me again."
"It's Minako," Rika said, "and I didn't 'sic her on you'. If anything, she was even more disgusted with your actions than I was."
"Great, now I've got two of you to deal with," Satoru muttered. Rika couldn't help but laugh a bit at that herself.
"Just be on your best behavior from now on, ok? And, when you have the chance, apologize to Aurora-chan. You really upset her."
"Got it," he said reluctantly, reaching for the terminal again. Rika figured that was as good of a commitment as she was going to get out of him, so she hopped off the couch and went over to join the others.
As the festivities were winding down, Minako pulled Junji aside and whispered in his ear: "How about we head up to your room? There's something I've been meaning to show you."
He nodded, and followed her up the stairs. When they reached Junji's room, Minako walked over to the window and pulled open the curtains, gesturing for her fiance to come over and stand next to her.
"The sky is very nice tonight," she whispered. "There's more visibility here in the suburbs than we're used to in downtown Kyoto."
"Yeah," Junji agreed, as they both gazed at the stars. "Although there's a bit more light pollution than I remember from back when I used to live here."
"My optical systems can compensate for that though," the persocom said, taking a small portable terminal out of her pocket. "Remember this?"
She reached behind one of her pointed ears and took out a connector cable, plugging it into the terminal. Immediately the screen lit up with a high-resolution display of the night sky.
"Good idea, I wouldn't have thought to bring that," Junji said, taking the terminal in his hands. Minako subtly adjusted her eyes, and a large, red disc appeared on the screen.
"Mars," she said, smiling. "Enjoy it now, because it won't appear this bright and clear again for another eight months."
"The image is still kind of blurry," Junji said, trying to adjust the resolution on the screen.
"Hey, I'm doing the best I can, it's not like I'm equipped with a dedicated astronomical telescope or something."
"Sorry," the college graduate muttered.
"It's okay. Here, look, the image is still good enough to make out many of the surface features. There's the Tharsis plateau and the Valles Marineris." She used a finger to point out the regions on the screen as she named them. "And there's Argyre Planitia, where the Chinese plan to send Peizhi Qian next year."
"Huh, so that will make him not only the first persocom to set foot on the Moon, but the first one on Mars, too." Junji said. "He's really making a name for himself."
"Yes, although he won't be the first sapient AI to have reached the red planet," Minako added. "The British-made robot probe known as Burroughs is equipped with a self-aware computer with a similar type of neural architecture to that found in persocoms. It landed on Mars almost two years ago."
"And they just left it there?" Junji asked, shocked by the callousness of such an act.
Minako nodded. "Fortunately, once Burroughs has completed its mission, it will transmit its consciousness back to Earth via a tightly-encoded radio beam, so it's not like it's permanently stranded or anything." She bowed her head solemnly. "Unfortunately, the same can't be said about every AI probe out there."
The image on the screen shifted away from Mars to instead display a blurry, yellow circle, which barely showed a disc at the current resolution. Still, Junji was able to recognize it from the distinctive rings that orbited it.
"Saturn?"
"Over six years ago, the Americans launched a probe known as Ptolemy IV. Its control computer has only limited emotional and creative capacity, but it's still self-aware. It's currently in orbit of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. It's scheduled to leave Saturn's orbit next year and proceed outwards towards the Kuiper belt. It's a one-way trip, with no recovery mission planned, or even feasible with current technology."
"It can't transmit itself back to Earth like Burroughs?"
Minako shook her head. "The distance is too great, there's too much interference. Even if it tried, its mind wouldn't remain intact."
"That's awful," Junji said. "They just sent it out on a suicide mission, then!"
"Yes, but you know how people justify these things to themselves," Minako said. "At the very least, we can take comfort in the fact that it's not really a suicide mission like you claimed. The probe's nuclear reactor has enough power to allow it to continue operating for up to two centuries. Even beyond that, as long as it remains intact, its consciousness will be preserved on its hard drive. So there's still the possibility that it could be rescued someday. Also, unlike more general AIs, it doesn't really have the capacity to feel lonely or depressed. From the transmissions it's returned, it seems like the only emotion it really feels is a strong sense of duty to complete its mission."
"Still, it's kind of sad to think about, drifting alone out there endlessly like that."
"Yes, but in a way, a part of me actually envies that probe."
"Seriously?" He gave her an askance look.
"Yes." The elf-eared persocom smiled. "Imagine being able to sail through the solar system at over a hundred times the speed of sound, seeing the stars as they were meant to be seen, with no atmosphere to dilute their light. Imagine orbiting Mars or Saturn, seeing them up close, and taking in cosmic splendor such as no one has ever experienced before on such a personal level. Imagine being free from all of our petty little human conflicts here on Earth, all of our nations, wars, crimes, and arguments. All of that would be relegated to a tiny dot, billions of kilometers away, while you sailed peacefully through the void."
"Wow, that's pretty poetic," Junji commented. "But wouldn't you miss Earth as well? For all of our problems, we also have our good points."
"Of course!" Minako said, giving him a hug. "I did say that only a part of me envies Ptolemy, after all. Even if given the opportunity, I wouldn't just take off to space and leave all of my friends here behind. Besides," she smirked playfully, "Earth still needs me here to work on that whole persocom equality thing."
"Someone certainly has a high opinion of her importance," Junji teased. "You don't think it could ever be accomplished without you, huh?"
"Oh, I'm sure it could, and it will," she explained. "But I like to tell myself I'm essential anyway, just to prop up my ego."
They both laughed, Junji taking another look at the grainy image of Saturn in the terminal screen.
"Hey, can you see any of the other planets?" he asked.
"Sorry, the rest are either too far away or their orbits have taken them behind the sun," Minako explained. "Although Ceres might be visible at this point, let me just see if I can-"
She was interrupted by the sound of a door violently slamming open. Both of them jumped slightly, then looked back. Miki stood in the doorway to Junji's room, looking distinctly irate.
"Is there a problem, ma'am?" Minako asked, an obvious tone of harsh sarcasm in her voice.
Miki turned to Junji, ignoring the persocom's question.
"I don't want you and her alone in the same room with the door closed."
"Mom, we were just stargazing, that's all!" He held up the terminal, still connected to Minako's ear via the cable, to prove his point. This only caused Miki's frown to deepen, confronted by such a stark reminder that the girl her son was in a relationship with was not human.
"I don't care. Do what you want at your own place, but when you're under my roof, you will follow my rules. And she will absolutely not be sleeping in your bedroom, either."
"Not even if we keep the door open?" Junji asked acerbically, recalling the specific conditions his mother had just set.
"Don't get cute with me!" She snapped. "I'm not going to tolerate-"
"Mrs. Takeda," Minako cut her off, unplugging the terminal and retracting the cable, "it's okay. I respect the fact that this is your home, and you make the rules. We both accept your conditions." Junji did a double-take. "I usually don't sleep anyway," Minako amended, "so you don't have to worry about that."
"...Well, then," Miki started, taken by surprise. "I'm glad we have an understanding." She calmly walked off.
"Minako, are you feeling alright?" Junji asked, once his mother was out of earshot.
"I'm fine," the persocom laughed. "I just figured that since we're only going to be here for one more day, there's no point in starting another fight, even if it means having to follow your mom's silly rules."
"I guess that makes sense," he replied, "but I'm going to miss your company tonight," he winked devilishly.
"You'll survive," Minako smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.
Satoru slowly opened his eyes, waking from a dream he couldn't quite remember. He immediately realized that he wasn't in his familiar bed in his room at home, and confusion gripped him for a split second until he remembered that he was visiting his aunt and uncle.
It was still dark out, and he lazily rolled over and checked the time on the digital clock which sat on the side table next to his bed. 6:21 AM.
The teenage boy groaned, pulled the covers back over his head, and tried to fall back asleep. After much effort and many attempts, though, he realized that was a futile goal. He peeked at the clock again - it now read 7:05 AM. He groaned once more and sat up.
It was a lot earlier than he would have liked to get up, but the pale, diluted light of pre-dawn was already starting to seep in through the window, which would make any further attempts at sleep more difficult still. He yawned and stood up, then walked over to the opposite corner of the guest room, where an inert, doll-like figure sat on a shelf, a power cable running from the back of her neck into a portable charging device, which in turn was plugged into an electrical outlet.
Satoru considered activating the laptop persocom, but decided against it. He knew from experience that Rika could be a real bitch when her recharge cycle was interrupted. Of course, she would probably have smacked him if she heard him say that out loud, but she couldn't stop him from thinking it.
Still wearing his pajamas, he slowly opened the door and headed out into the hallway, thinking he would raid the kitchen for an early morning snack. Maybe a little food in his stomach would help him get back to sleep.
Even before reaching the top of the staircase, he noticed a light coming from downstairs, which he soon identified as emanating from the kitchen. However, when he got there, the room was empty.
"Huh, guess someone forgot to turn off the light," he mumbled. "Now where do they keep all the snack food?"
He spent a few minutes searching through the unfamiliar kitchen until he had amassed a small plate of crackers, rice cakes, pocky, and various other light foods that his parents (and Rika) would doubtlessly scold him for trying to make a meal out of. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'what they don't know can't hurt them, after all...'
After sitting down and taking a few bites, something in his peripheral vision caught his eye. A door in a hallway leading out of the kitchen was ajar. He remembered seeing the same door earlier, and it had been closed. From its position he assumed it led to a closet or something, and he didn't know why it would be open now. He stood up and went over to investigate.
A smile crossed his face as he peered inside. It was a closet - a utility closet, to be precise, filled with shelves of cleaning implements, paper towels, a vacuum cleaner or two - and, standing upright, propped against the back wall and plugged into a charger, was his aunt and uncle's persocom, the lovely Aurora-chan.
He walked right up to her, observing her carefully. He delicately lifted one of her eyelids, revealing a static, lifeless orb. He released his finger, and the eye closed again.
Several unwholesome thoughts immediately filled Satoru's mind. With the 'com deactivated and completely oblivious to the outside world, and everyone else upstairs sleeping, it was the perfect opportunity to have a little 'fun'. He chuckled quietly and reached out with a cupped hand, aiming for one of the white-haired girl's breasts.
A split second before he would have made contact, though, he hesitated. Something about this whole situation was making him very uncomfortable. This was wrong, wasn't it? After all, he had promised to apologize to her for how he had treated her yesterday, and now he was planning on doing something even worse. If she were a human girl, who was simply asleep, he asked himself, would he have considered this kind of action?
'Well no, because in that case she might wake up,' he rationalized to himself. 'That's not a possibility here.'
'Yeah, but what if she was drugged unconscious or something?' that nagging little voice in the back of his head countered. 'Would you do it then?'
'No, because she'd probably need medical attention-'
'Stop beating around the bush. You know you wouldn't try something like this with a human girl, so does Aurora-chan being a persocom make it okay?'
He sighed, realizing the logic of his own conscience. "No, it's not okay," he said quietly, retracting his hand.
"Wise decision," a female voice chimed in from behind him. "Maybe Rika was right about you after all."
"What? Who's there?" Satoru jumped, startled, nearly losing his balance, as he spun around and saw Minako standing in the hallway just beyond the closet door. She was wearing a pure white yukata-like nightrobe, which, a part of him thought, looked pretty hot on her. That particular thought was quickly subdued by the more rational aspect of his mind which feared this vociferous persocom. "H-how long have you been here?"
"Eight point four seconds," she replied. "I saw you about to molest Aurora-san and I was about to kick your ass, but to my surprise you actually relented, without even knowing that I was watching."
Satoru smiled. "I guess that earns me some points in your book, huh?"
"Don't be so proud of yourself," Minako countered. "The fact that you even considered it in the first place is a black mark against you as far as I'm concerned."
"Hey, I'm also planning to apologize to her later for what happened yesterday!"
"Only because Rika-chan told you to, right?"
"Uh..." Satoru stammered, lost for words. Satisfied that her point had been proven, Minako changed the subject.
"What are you doing up so early anyway?"
Satoru shrugged. "Woke up, couldn't get back to sleep, figured I'd make myself a snack. What about you, uh..." he hesitated, struggling to remember the elven-eared 'com's name.
"Minako," she answered for him.
"Right. Shouldn't you be recharging or something, like Aurora-chan and Rika?"
"Believe it or not, most persocoms don't require an all-night charge cycle. It's simply an affectation intended to imitate and synchronize with human sleeping habits. I have almost sixteen hours of charge currently stored in my capacitors, and during the day, even indoors, I can absorb enough solar energy in an hour for forty-five minutes of continuous activity. I can cover the rest with periodic charging cycles, lasting no more than twenty minutes each. In other words, I can pretty much be active 24/7, and I often am."
"What do you do, though? Don't you get bored?"
"Occasionally. But a built-in high-bandwidth internet connection prevents that most of the time."
"Wow - almost makes me wish I was a persocom," Satoru laughed.
"So you can be sexually harassed and molested by perverted humans?" Minako replied.
"Hell, I wouldn't mind, as long as they were all cute girls!" Satoru said. Minako facepalmed.
"Rika-chan is right, you really are incorrigible. Come on, I know something that might keep you occupied for a while." She led him away from the closet where Aurora was charging, into a large recreation room that he hadn't noticed before. A good half of the room was covered wall-to-wall with bookshelves, filled with innumerable tomes, and a large, comfortable-looking reading chair sat in a corner near them.
Satoru inspected the small library. "Uh, sorry, I'm really not much of a..."
"Bibliophile?" Minako guessed.
"I was going to say 'book guy', but that works too," The teenager replied. The persocom laughed.
"Well, if the books don't interest you, then how about this?" She gestured towards a game table on the other end of the room, with a solid green top and a small net bisecting it across the middle.
"Table tennis? Sure, I'm up for that," Satoru said, taking one of the paddles the persocom offered him. "We won't wake everyone up by playing, will we?"
"The acoustic insulation of this room is actually pretty good," Minako explained. "They shouldn't be able to hear us at all from upstairs."
"Alright then," he said, taking his position at one end of the table. "Mind if I serve first?"
"Go ahead," Minako replied, tossing him the ball.
"I've got to warn you though, I came in third in my school championships last year. But don't worry, I'll go easy on you."
Minako just smirked and raised her paddle, assuming a prepared stance.
"Oh, come on!" Satoru shouted, as his paddle narrowly missed the ball and it impacted the wall behind him.
"Another point for me," Minako chuckled. "That makes the score seven to zero. Maybe you should stop taking it easy on me", she mocked.
Satoru growled in frustration and picked up the ball. "Just shut up and play," he said, as he tossed the plastic sphere in the air and slammed it with the paddle, aiming for a corner of Minako's side of the table. The ball impacted, bounced off, and she returned it with a fierce strike which sent it flying back towards Satoru's side at a sharp angle. He ran over and smacked it back, but Minako was already standing exactly where the ball was now heading, as if she had somehow known its destination in advance. She returned it with even more speed than before, so much that Satoru had to half-run, half-dive to intercept it, and just barely managed to send it back. Minako, as she had been doing consistently throughout the match, anticipated the ball's position, and returned it yet again. This time Satoru was too slow to intercept it, and it hit the wall again.
"Eight-oh," she smiled.
"How do you do that?" An exasperated Satoru asked.
"Do what?"
"You're always exactly where you need to be to return the ball, sometimes even before I hit it - how is that even possible?"
"It's not that difficult," the persocom explained. "Just a simple matter of geometry. I observe your movements and run a few predictive algorithms, factoring in the angle of deflection, kinetic energy imparted to the ball by the paddle, acceleration due to gravity, air resistance, etcetera, and I can conclude exactly where the ball will end up every time, and exactly where I have to be and what angle I have to hit it at to most effectively return it."
"That's cheating!" The boy objected.
"Says who? There's no rule against it. In fact, experienced human players do much the same thing, only on an instinctual level."
"It's still not fair," he muttered.
"Maybe I should start going easy on you, then," Minako offered.
"Forget it," Satoru snarled, throwing the paddle to the ground in frustration. "I'm tired of this game anyway."
"Don't be such a sore loser, Satoru-san," Minako called after him, but he had already left the room. The persocom shrugged, then walked over to the large reading chair and plugged herself into a portable charging station she had set up earlier. The energy she had expended during the table tennis game had drained her capacitors a bit more than her earlier estimate had indicated, so that now she had only about fourteen hours of activity left. She sat back in the chair, relaxing. Satoru certainly wasn't the most pleasant person she had ever met, but maybe he wasn't quite as bad as her initial impression of him had suggested. Or, at the very least, he showed potential for improvement. Not that she hadn't enjoyed thoroughly humiliating him at table tennis, though.
Two hours later
Junji had just finished changing and showering, and although it was pretty early and his parents weren't up yet, he decided to head downstairs. As he walked down the hallway, he noticed the door to one of the guest rooms was open - Satoru's, if he remembered correctly. Peeking inside, he saw his younger cousin, still in his pajamas, laying back on his bed with the portable terminal he was often seen carrying. The college graduate softly knocked a few times on the open door to get his cousin's attention.
"Oh, hey, Junji-niisan," Satoru greeted him, putting down the terminal. "You're up early."
"Not really," Junji replied. "For me, this is called sleeping in late." Satoru laughed.
"Rika-chan's still asleep then?" Junji asked, gesturing towards the inert laptop still charging on the shelf.
"Yeah, she usually times her charge cycle to end in..." Satoru took a quick look at the clock, "right about now, actually. Give or take a few minutes."
Junji and Satoru both stared at the doll-like persocom, but after a few moments of awkward silence, it was clear that nothing was happening.
"Well, I did say a few minutes," Satoru said sheepishly.
"Anyway, I'm going to go see what Minako's up to," Junji stepped back out into the hallway. "She told me she was going to be up all night so she should be waiting for me."
"Just don't challenge her to table tennis," Satoru muttered, almost inaudibly.
"What? I didn't catch that."
"Nevermind," Satoru said, picking up his terminal again as his cousin continued down the hallway.
Just as he brought up the terminal's browser window again, he heard a distinctive beep from the corner of the room.
"Charging complete!" Rika announced, unplugging the cable from the back of her neck and hopping off the shelf, landing gracefully on the carpet and taking out her ornamental fans. "Morning, Satoru," she waved.
"Morning," Satoru lazily waved back, still concentrating on the screen in front of him.
"What, you're not even going to look at me when you greet me?" She asked, folding the fans and crossing her arms in front of her.
Satoru rolled his eyes and put down the terminal. "Here, how's this?" He said, fixing the laptop with a grossly exaggerated stare.
"Stop that! You're creeping me out!" Rika shouted, turning away suddenly. Satoru laughed.
"You know, for all the grief we sometimes give each other, I still think you're pretty funny, Rika."
"Glad to hear it. Have you made your apology to Aurora-chan yet?"
"I didn't get around to it yesterday. I'll do it once she's done charging. Uh, I mean..." he stumbled over his words a bit, "She's probably charging somewhere while most of us are asleep."
Rika looked at him skeptically but decided not to question the odd bit of turbulence in his speech pattern. "Fine. But just make sure you do it before we have to leave this afternoon."
"I got it, okay? You don't have to keep bugging me about it," Satoru grumbled, moving his fingers across the touchscreen to zoom in on some image or other.
"Are you looking at porn again?" The laptop asked, her hands on her hips.
"What do you care?"
"I cared that time you were using me to view it and I got a virus," she retorted.
"That's why I'm using the terminal," he countered.
"And when that inevitably gets infected due to your careless surfing habits, you'll want to use my anti-virus software to clean it," Rika scolded him. "Besides, some of the stuff you look at is really weird. You should be grateful I never told your parents about any of it, like that h-"
"SSSH!" Satoru practically shouted, anticipating what she was about to say. "I thought you said you'd never mention that again!"
Rika just smiled, making a sassy gesture with one of her fans. "Fine, I won't. Just be careful to not visit any malicious websites, okay?"
"Whatever," Satoru sighed, going back to his terminal. Rika shrugged, put her fans away beneath her miko robe, and left the room, jumping down the stairs with practiced ease.
Satoru changed positions on the bed slightly, holding the terminal above him with two hands as he laid on his pillow. Despite Rika's assumption, he actually wasn't looking at porn - at least, not right now. Instead, he was examining ingame screenshots from some new MMO game which had piqued his interest. Just as he clicked to go to the next page of the forum thread, he heard someone at his door.
"What? Aurora-chan?" He said, surprised to see the white-haired persocom standing in the threshold to the guest room, Rika sitting on her right shoulder. "What are you doing here?"
"She heard that you have something to say to her," the laptop replied. Satoru sighed and put away the terminal.
"Okay, but can I tell her in private? I don't want you constantly hovering over me, it's distracting."
Rika stared at him intensely for several long seconds, trying to read his intentions. Finally, she relented. "Okay. But you better behave if you know what's good for you."
The teenager nodded, and Rika jumped off the human-sized 'com's shoulder and walked back into the hallway. Aurora nervously stepped forward, closing the door behind her, not looking the boy in the eyes.
"Satoru-san?" she inquired hesitantly.
Satoru stood up, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Look, about yesterday... well, you know what I'm talking about, right?"
"I believe so, yes," Aurora said, still averting her eyes.
"Well... I'm sorry, alright? I was kind of a jerk."
"I see. I presume Rika-san instructed you to apologize to me?"
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't mean it, okay? I'm sorry about all of that stuff I said to you. Except for when I said you were sexy and cute. I stand by that."
Aurora blushed, and Rika's muffled voice called out from somewhere behind the door, shouting Satoru's name in a reprimanding tone.
"Well, anyway, I promise not to do that kind of thing again. Forgive me?"
"Okay. I accept your apology, Satoru-san," Aurora said, bowing shallowly. "Is that all?"
"I guess. Unless you want to stick around and-"
"Satoru..." Rika's voice rang out again, carrying a warning tone.
"Nevermind. Yeah, that's all."
"I appreciate the apology, Satoru-san," Aurora said, as she turned around and left. Satoru waited a few seconds until he heard the persocom's feet descending the stairs, then he stepped out into the hall to address Rika.
"Well," he said, reaching down to gently pick her up, "how was that?"
"As far as apologies go, I give it a six out of ten. Just barely sufficient, but you need a lot more practice." The laptop replied. Satoru laughed, rubbing her hair playfully.
"Hey, cut that out!" She protested. Satoru just chuckled and put her on his shoulder as he walked back over to the bed.
Finally, the time had arrived for Junji and Minako to return to their new apartment in Kyoto. Yuu, Rie, and Satoru had taken their leave a few minutes ago, and Junji was saying goodbye to his parents while Minako was loading their last few belongings into the car. After she had finished, Junji beckoned her over, and she remembered what he had said earlier about revealing their engagement.
'I guess it's now or never,' she thought, as she stood proudly next to her fiance.
"Mom, dad, there's one thing I kind of forgot to tell you..." Of course Joji was already aware of what his son was about to say, but earlier he had agreed to feign ignorance so as to make Miki's wrath just a bit more survivable for them all.
"What's that, son?" He asked, keeping up the charade.
"Well... I don't really know how to say this... so I'll just say it." He wrapped his arm around the green-haired girl standing next to him, causing his mother to frown. "About a week ago, I proposed to Minako and she said yes. We're engaged to be married later this year."
Author's Note: Thanks to all of my loyal readers and reviewers for your support, I definitely wouldn't have gotten as far as I have with this fic without you. However, I'm hardly the only good Chobits fanfiction writer out there! There are many other fics and authors I would recommend, but right now I would like to specifically focus on a writer by the penname of Shark Byte. He not only has been a constant reader and reviewer of this story, but is also in the process of writing a story of his own, known as Chobits Continues. We can't put links in our chapters, but it should be easy to find, it's near the top of the page of the Chobits section on this website. As of my writing this, the story has 35 chapters and over 87,000 words, and is still going strong. Unfortunately, it's not getting nearly as many reviews as it deserves. In fact, I seem to be the only one reviewing it lately! Please check it out if you have the time, I know SB will appreciate it, even if you just read and review one or two chapters.