Chapter Three: Living the Dream
(AN: I know now from close examination of Kikaider that Miori's name is Riako (know I spelled that wrong, too.) But I'm going to keep it the same. Just to clear that up.)
"Pass the carrots, please." Masaru asked Miori from across the table.
"Why do humans gotta eat anyways?" Ichiro mumbled a little angrily.
Rei just sat next to him at the window and stared out at newly formed snow on the ground of the dark night.
"So Mitsuko, do you still want to move?" Dr. Komyoji asked after subsiding the chewing of his own meal.
Mitsuko waited a moment, "I'm not sure yet. I suppose I'll have to wait until this has played itself out."
"Good choice." Miori said. Mitsuko smiled.
'I don't know if I can trust her. or not. I hope I can, I was rather quick to judge earlier. She seems so nice, and she's so determined to protect Akira. I remember being that way with Masaru.' Mitsuko thought.
Jiro leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Penny for your thoughts?"
Mitsuko blushed and laughed lightly, "More like a dollar."
"Interesting." Jiro said, "Care to share?"
"Alright Dr. Seuss. I remember being as protective of Masaru when he was little, as Miori is with Akira." Mitsuko said.
Miori looked up, a little shocked and her minimal jealously somewhat subsiding in the midst of it all, "Really? You were like me with Masaru?"
"Yes, actually." Mitsuko said, and laughed again, "I used to have to worry all the time about his well-being when Jiro and I left without him. Once he even went so far as to follow us to where we had gone. It nearly gave Hadori and Etsuko a heart attack."
"I remember that." Masaru said softly, "That was when I met Kuyo. and. Kaito. and Reiku."
"Its over and done with now, Masaru." Jiro soothed, and turning to Mitsuko asked, "Say, where are Hadori and Etsuko?"
Dr. Komyoji shook himself from silence, "Who are they? You've never mentioned them."
"Oh, you're right. Hanpel Hadori is a privet detective, and Etsuko is like his secretary. Masaru and I hired them to help us find Jiro when he ran away."
"I wasn't running." Jiro protested, "I was. searching."
"Call it what you want, you ran." Mitsuko said, and Masaru laughed, hard.
"Do my ears deceive me?" Ichiro asked, "Little Jiro. running away?"
Jiro was impossibly red for an android, "I didn't run!"
"Of course not." Ichiro said, turning back to the window with his cocky, knowing smile.
"Have you shown this much human emotion before?" Dr. Komyoji asked excitedly.
"Huh?" Jiro asked, dumbstruck.
"You were blushing a moment before." Miori said.
"Oh. I. don't know." He stated.
"That one time. with our mother, you did." Masaru said, again hushed.
"Yes, you cried for me. Because she was going to kill me, and you cried." Mitsuko said, suddenly remembering him that night, when he quivered with indignation and fury while Mitsuko's mother held a gun to Mitsuko's head. she remembered his words.
"Get away from her. I'm warning you, get away from Mitsuko!" And the tears that slid down his face at the very thought of losing his first and only love.
"For me." Mitsuko emphasized.
"You cried, too, little bro?" Ichiro asked, laughing fit to kill, "You actually cried a river for Mitsuko here?"
"Ichiro." Rei reprimanded silently.
Ichiro stopped, but only reluctantly, and Jiro struggled to get the topic onto safer grounds, "So where is the good detective and faithful secretary?"
"They got married three years ago. We went to their wedding, and it was actually quite nice. Actually, Hadori called the other day-." Mitsuko said.
"Positively jumping with joy through the phone, I might add." Masaru said, "It seems Etsuko's pregnant."
"Wow, married and pregnant." Jiro whistled.
Mitsuko nodded, "She said that she was naming me Godmother to their child." She smiled.
"What's a godmother?" Rei asked.
"In case something bad happens to Etsuko and Hadori, their child won't be left without a place to go. Whoever it is will come and live with me, and I'll be considered the parental guardian."
"I see." He said silently.
"I think it's time we moved on to the living room, or got some sleep, it's really quite late." Miori said, crossing her arms above the table.
Everyone looked at her, then the clock over the phone, and Mitsuko said, "Oh! I didn't realize how late it was."
Putting the dishes and silverware in the sink, Jiro and Mitsuko were the only ones in the kitchen, everyone having left for the living room or to bed. "Do they believe something will happen to them?" Jiro asked suddenly.
"What? Oh, Hanpel and Etsuko? I don't know. It's just a precaution, really." Mitsuko said. She yawned.
Jiro encircled her in his arms; "I think it's time to get you to bed."
Mitsuko turned around as best she could to look at him, "You'll stay with me, tonight?"
"Why wouldn't I?" He asked, slightly surprised.
She looked away and leaned into his shoulder, "I don't know. It's just now that you really have come back, even if at first it wasn't because you wanted to, I don't really feel like losing you again."
"I would leave you for the world right now, Mitsuko." Jiro said.
She yawned again, and Jiro led her upstairs without protest, ignoring Ichiro's laughs deliberately, and painfully ignoring Miori's hurt glance. He didn't know why he felt it. or why he felt guilty. He hadn't loved Miori, and he knew he probably couldn't. His life belonged with Mitsuko and Masaru.
He laid down Mitsuko, who was already fast asleep as soon as she gracefully fell to the bed. Shifting her slightly, he sat down next to her. Jiro really wasn't going to sleep in the same bed with her again, but when he turned to leave her, she had a death grip on his arm.
"Oh. uh. I guess I really will have to sleep here tonight, huh, Mitsuko?" Jiro asked.
Mitsuko didn't say anything, and Jiro hadn't expected her to, so he just lay down beside her, realizing that it felt so incredibly right to be here with her, like this. Before all thoughts left his head and two screams echoed into the night.
_____________*
Professor Gill, now reduced to an android embodiment, was restless.
"Have you found news on them yet Bejinder?" He snapped out.
"Not yet, Gill, but I'm getting close." Her voice sounded.
He growled, "How close?!"
"They've gone to certain place of residence just outside a major town, the Komyoji family lives there."
"Komyoji?" Gill laughed to himself, "I suppose he's gone back to the dear old doctor."
____________*
Jiro sat bolt upright beside Mitsuko. Had he heard screams? Why did he doubt himself, of course that's what he heard! He shook Mitsuko as gently as he could in his own wake to get her up.
"What's wrong?" She asked sleepily.
"Did you hear that?" He asked, before jumping out of bed, only having taken off his shoes and jacket.
"What?" She asked again, becoming more aware, "Jiro, what's. what happened?"
"I heard someone scream. or maybe two people." Jiro said, and ran out of the room.
Mitsuko threw on a robe, and quickly followed, hearing Jiro's command of, "Check Masaru and doctor!"
Jiro himself went to Akira and Miori.
"Miori? Are you alright?" He asked upon entry.
But whom he saw, wasn't Miori.
"Who are you, what have you done with Miori?!"
It was a golden android, sort of like Bejinder. There were differences however. Where Bejinder would attack instead of tremble, this one all-out cried in agony. She raised her hands to her golden head and shook with sadness, falling to the floor heavily.
"It's not. it can't be. I'm human!" She wailed.
Jiro froze, "Miori?"
She nodded pathetically, "I. I don't know w-what happened!"
"Just. here, let me help." He said softly, and helped her get back on the bed.
"I'm h-human!!" She wailed yet again.
"I know Miori," Jiro agreed, feeling it was better not to contradict her now, "Just. we'll take care of this later, ok? Now, I'm going to leave for a moment and check on the others, I'll be back, ok?"
She nodded, still crying to pieces and he got up to see Mitsuko in the doorway that motioned for him to come out.
"Who else was it?" He asked, closing the door.
"Akira. something wrong." Mitsuko said, and they both turned and walked rapidly to Akira's room.
Akira was shaking in the corner, asking questions to himself such as, 'where am I?' and 'how did I get here?' Trembling from head to foot, he tried to back into the corner even more when he noticed them enter.
"Akira?" Jiro asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"
Akira looked up, and Mitsuko noticed the change when Jiro didn't.
"Jiro. his eyes!" She said, gripping his arm.
Akira looked up, "Where's Miori? Who are you?"
Mitsuko went over to him, but he gave a yelp and tried to move the chair in front of him closer.
"Akira. I'm not going to hurt you. It's ok, you're safe. Miori's here, she's just asleep." Mitsuko soothed.
"Mitsuko, I don't. I can't." Jiro said, struggling to understand.
"What's the last thing you remember?" She asked.
"Miori was. leading me out of a forest place. saying something about. my. my father." He stuttered, reluctant to relieve any information to Mitsuko.
"Well Miori is here, she's not going to leave you. She's just. sick. for the moment. I want you to get back in bed, and go to sleep. Nothing here is going to harm you." Mitsuko instructed.
Akira was edgy and doubtful about her, but he did as told.
"You just sleep tonight, and we'll be back in the morning with Miori to help you." Mitsuko said.
They closed the door, and Jiro looked at Mitsuko expectantly.
"His eyes are different. Before they were so empty and. cold. Now they're full of warmth, and emotion. Maybe Gill had him somewhat asleep? Under. some sort of medication, something?" Mitsuko explained.
"It's possible." Jiro mused.
The door next to Akira's sounded a whimper that grew.
"I'll help Miori for tonight. Maybe I can help her get into her human form. It's no doubt about it that she's definitely android. Maybe the doctor can help us more tomorrow?" Jiro said.
"Yes." Mitsuko answered, still troubled.
Jiro went inside Miori's, and Mitsuko stood outside the door for another moment, feeling lost at heart, before she went for sleep.
__________*
"How are you doing, Miori?" He asked gently.
She shook her head.
"Well, I'm going to try to find a way to revert this to your human form, alright?" He asked her.
She nodded vigorously.
"But I'll need you to help me, so you'll have to get up." He instructed.
Miori did so, but reluctantly.
He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to find switches like his own, but found nothing.
"Did you push some part of your body before this happened?" He asked her.
She once more shook her head.
"Alright."
Jiro was about to try her wrists, or hands, but she pulled back.
"Miori. I need to try this." He said, trying subtly to get her to understand him.
"How. how do you do it?" She asked quietly. "How do I do what?" Jiro asked, frustrated.
"Get into your. other half." She said.
"Oh, you mean transform? I have switches on my shoulders." He said, "I checked you, you don't have them." He added as she tried miserably to find some on her shoulders.
"Then where are mine?" She asked, and began trembling.
"Miori, that's what I've been looking for, but you need to help me." He said.
"Could you. um, I mean, can you. well, what I mean is could you transform now?" She asked hesitantly.
"But. Miori, why?" Jiro asked in return.
"I don't know, it was just a thought, ignore it." She said and waved her hand dismissively.
"If it'll make you feel better, I will." He said and she nodded quickly, "Alright."
Hitting the switches on his shoulders, he reverted to his android form. She stopped trembling so much, and let him search her wrists. Catching something that felt like a snag, he pushed.
"Ouch!" She exclaimed, but starting from her feet and going up, a bright light washed over her, changing her back.
Seeing he'd done it, he changed back as well.
"Thank you, thank you!" She said happily, throwing her arms around his shoulders.
He laughed gently, "You're welcome. But. I'm surprised, you didn't. know?"
She didn't let go, "No. I've been human all my life, how could I?"
"Maybe Professor Gill did something to you, then?" He asked, more to himself than to her.
"Maybe." She echoed.
Before he'd had the chance to understand what happened, she had pressed her lips to his in a passionate kiss. Seeing as he was slow on the uptake, she then quickly pulled back and mumbled a sorry before letting go of him.
He walked out of the room in a daze, unsure of how to handle what happened.
(AN: I know now from close examination of Kikaider that Miori's name is Riako (know I spelled that wrong, too.) But I'm going to keep it the same. Just to clear that up.)
"Pass the carrots, please." Masaru asked Miori from across the table.
"Why do humans gotta eat anyways?" Ichiro mumbled a little angrily.
Rei just sat next to him at the window and stared out at newly formed snow on the ground of the dark night.
"So Mitsuko, do you still want to move?" Dr. Komyoji asked after subsiding the chewing of his own meal.
Mitsuko waited a moment, "I'm not sure yet. I suppose I'll have to wait until this has played itself out."
"Good choice." Miori said. Mitsuko smiled.
'I don't know if I can trust her. or not. I hope I can, I was rather quick to judge earlier. She seems so nice, and she's so determined to protect Akira. I remember being that way with Masaru.' Mitsuko thought.
Jiro leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Penny for your thoughts?"
Mitsuko blushed and laughed lightly, "More like a dollar."
"Interesting." Jiro said, "Care to share?"
"Alright Dr. Seuss. I remember being as protective of Masaru when he was little, as Miori is with Akira." Mitsuko said.
Miori looked up, a little shocked and her minimal jealously somewhat subsiding in the midst of it all, "Really? You were like me with Masaru?"
"Yes, actually." Mitsuko said, and laughed again, "I used to have to worry all the time about his well-being when Jiro and I left without him. Once he even went so far as to follow us to where we had gone. It nearly gave Hadori and Etsuko a heart attack."
"I remember that." Masaru said softly, "That was when I met Kuyo. and. Kaito. and Reiku."
"Its over and done with now, Masaru." Jiro soothed, and turning to Mitsuko asked, "Say, where are Hadori and Etsuko?"
Dr. Komyoji shook himself from silence, "Who are they? You've never mentioned them."
"Oh, you're right. Hanpel Hadori is a privet detective, and Etsuko is like his secretary. Masaru and I hired them to help us find Jiro when he ran away."
"I wasn't running." Jiro protested, "I was. searching."
"Call it what you want, you ran." Mitsuko said, and Masaru laughed, hard.
"Do my ears deceive me?" Ichiro asked, "Little Jiro. running away?"
Jiro was impossibly red for an android, "I didn't run!"
"Of course not." Ichiro said, turning back to the window with his cocky, knowing smile.
"Have you shown this much human emotion before?" Dr. Komyoji asked excitedly.
"Huh?" Jiro asked, dumbstruck.
"You were blushing a moment before." Miori said.
"Oh. I. don't know." He stated.
"That one time. with our mother, you did." Masaru said, again hushed.
"Yes, you cried for me. Because she was going to kill me, and you cried." Mitsuko said, suddenly remembering him that night, when he quivered with indignation and fury while Mitsuko's mother held a gun to Mitsuko's head. she remembered his words.
"Get away from her. I'm warning you, get away from Mitsuko!" And the tears that slid down his face at the very thought of losing his first and only love.
"For me." Mitsuko emphasized.
"You cried, too, little bro?" Ichiro asked, laughing fit to kill, "You actually cried a river for Mitsuko here?"
"Ichiro." Rei reprimanded silently.
Ichiro stopped, but only reluctantly, and Jiro struggled to get the topic onto safer grounds, "So where is the good detective and faithful secretary?"
"They got married three years ago. We went to their wedding, and it was actually quite nice. Actually, Hadori called the other day-." Mitsuko said.
"Positively jumping with joy through the phone, I might add." Masaru said, "It seems Etsuko's pregnant."
"Wow, married and pregnant." Jiro whistled.
Mitsuko nodded, "She said that she was naming me Godmother to their child." She smiled.
"What's a godmother?" Rei asked.
"In case something bad happens to Etsuko and Hadori, their child won't be left without a place to go. Whoever it is will come and live with me, and I'll be considered the parental guardian."
"I see." He said silently.
"I think it's time we moved on to the living room, or got some sleep, it's really quite late." Miori said, crossing her arms above the table.
Everyone looked at her, then the clock over the phone, and Mitsuko said, "Oh! I didn't realize how late it was."
Putting the dishes and silverware in the sink, Jiro and Mitsuko were the only ones in the kitchen, everyone having left for the living room or to bed. "Do they believe something will happen to them?" Jiro asked suddenly.
"What? Oh, Hanpel and Etsuko? I don't know. It's just a precaution, really." Mitsuko said. She yawned.
Jiro encircled her in his arms; "I think it's time to get you to bed."
Mitsuko turned around as best she could to look at him, "You'll stay with me, tonight?"
"Why wouldn't I?" He asked, slightly surprised.
She looked away and leaned into his shoulder, "I don't know. It's just now that you really have come back, even if at first it wasn't because you wanted to, I don't really feel like losing you again."
"I would leave you for the world right now, Mitsuko." Jiro said.
She yawned again, and Jiro led her upstairs without protest, ignoring Ichiro's laughs deliberately, and painfully ignoring Miori's hurt glance. He didn't know why he felt it. or why he felt guilty. He hadn't loved Miori, and he knew he probably couldn't. His life belonged with Mitsuko and Masaru.
He laid down Mitsuko, who was already fast asleep as soon as she gracefully fell to the bed. Shifting her slightly, he sat down next to her. Jiro really wasn't going to sleep in the same bed with her again, but when he turned to leave her, she had a death grip on his arm.
"Oh. uh. I guess I really will have to sleep here tonight, huh, Mitsuko?" Jiro asked.
Mitsuko didn't say anything, and Jiro hadn't expected her to, so he just lay down beside her, realizing that it felt so incredibly right to be here with her, like this. Before all thoughts left his head and two screams echoed into the night.
_____________*
Professor Gill, now reduced to an android embodiment, was restless.
"Have you found news on them yet Bejinder?" He snapped out.
"Not yet, Gill, but I'm getting close." Her voice sounded.
He growled, "How close?!"
"They've gone to certain place of residence just outside a major town, the Komyoji family lives there."
"Komyoji?" Gill laughed to himself, "I suppose he's gone back to the dear old doctor."
____________*
Jiro sat bolt upright beside Mitsuko. Had he heard screams? Why did he doubt himself, of course that's what he heard! He shook Mitsuko as gently as he could in his own wake to get her up.
"What's wrong?" She asked sleepily.
"Did you hear that?" He asked, before jumping out of bed, only having taken off his shoes and jacket.
"What?" She asked again, becoming more aware, "Jiro, what's. what happened?"
"I heard someone scream. or maybe two people." Jiro said, and ran out of the room.
Mitsuko threw on a robe, and quickly followed, hearing Jiro's command of, "Check Masaru and doctor!"
Jiro himself went to Akira and Miori.
"Miori? Are you alright?" He asked upon entry.
But whom he saw, wasn't Miori.
"Who are you, what have you done with Miori?!"
It was a golden android, sort of like Bejinder. There were differences however. Where Bejinder would attack instead of tremble, this one all-out cried in agony. She raised her hands to her golden head and shook with sadness, falling to the floor heavily.
"It's not. it can't be. I'm human!" She wailed.
Jiro froze, "Miori?"
She nodded pathetically, "I. I don't know w-what happened!"
"Just. here, let me help." He said softly, and helped her get back on the bed.
"I'm h-human!!" She wailed yet again.
"I know Miori," Jiro agreed, feeling it was better not to contradict her now, "Just. we'll take care of this later, ok? Now, I'm going to leave for a moment and check on the others, I'll be back, ok?"
She nodded, still crying to pieces and he got up to see Mitsuko in the doorway that motioned for him to come out.
"Who else was it?" He asked, closing the door.
"Akira. something wrong." Mitsuko said, and they both turned and walked rapidly to Akira's room.
Akira was shaking in the corner, asking questions to himself such as, 'where am I?' and 'how did I get here?' Trembling from head to foot, he tried to back into the corner even more when he noticed them enter.
"Akira?" Jiro asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"
Akira looked up, and Mitsuko noticed the change when Jiro didn't.
"Jiro. his eyes!" She said, gripping his arm.
Akira looked up, "Where's Miori? Who are you?"
Mitsuko went over to him, but he gave a yelp and tried to move the chair in front of him closer.
"Akira. I'm not going to hurt you. It's ok, you're safe. Miori's here, she's just asleep." Mitsuko soothed.
"Mitsuko, I don't. I can't." Jiro said, struggling to understand.
"What's the last thing you remember?" She asked.
"Miori was. leading me out of a forest place. saying something about. my. my father." He stuttered, reluctant to relieve any information to Mitsuko.
"Well Miori is here, she's not going to leave you. She's just. sick. for the moment. I want you to get back in bed, and go to sleep. Nothing here is going to harm you." Mitsuko instructed.
Akira was edgy and doubtful about her, but he did as told.
"You just sleep tonight, and we'll be back in the morning with Miori to help you." Mitsuko said.
They closed the door, and Jiro looked at Mitsuko expectantly.
"His eyes are different. Before they were so empty and. cold. Now they're full of warmth, and emotion. Maybe Gill had him somewhat asleep? Under. some sort of medication, something?" Mitsuko explained.
"It's possible." Jiro mused.
The door next to Akira's sounded a whimper that grew.
"I'll help Miori for tonight. Maybe I can help her get into her human form. It's no doubt about it that she's definitely android. Maybe the doctor can help us more tomorrow?" Jiro said.
"Yes." Mitsuko answered, still troubled.
Jiro went inside Miori's, and Mitsuko stood outside the door for another moment, feeling lost at heart, before she went for sleep.
__________*
"How are you doing, Miori?" He asked gently.
She shook her head.
"Well, I'm going to try to find a way to revert this to your human form, alright?" He asked her.
She nodded vigorously.
"But I'll need you to help me, so you'll have to get up." He instructed.
Miori did so, but reluctantly.
He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to find switches like his own, but found nothing.
"Did you push some part of your body before this happened?" He asked her.
She once more shook her head.
"Alright."
Jiro was about to try her wrists, or hands, but she pulled back.
"Miori. I need to try this." He said, trying subtly to get her to understand him.
"How. how do you do it?" She asked quietly. "How do I do what?" Jiro asked, frustrated.
"Get into your. other half." She said.
"Oh, you mean transform? I have switches on my shoulders." He said, "I checked you, you don't have them." He added as she tried miserably to find some on her shoulders.
"Then where are mine?" She asked, and began trembling.
"Miori, that's what I've been looking for, but you need to help me." He said.
"Could you. um, I mean, can you. well, what I mean is could you transform now?" She asked hesitantly.
"But. Miori, why?" Jiro asked in return.
"I don't know, it was just a thought, ignore it." She said and waved her hand dismissively.
"If it'll make you feel better, I will." He said and she nodded quickly, "Alright."
Hitting the switches on his shoulders, he reverted to his android form. She stopped trembling so much, and let him search her wrists. Catching something that felt like a snag, he pushed.
"Ouch!" She exclaimed, but starting from her feet and going up, a bright light washed over her, changing her back.
Seeing he'd done it, he changed back as well.
"Thank you, thank you!" She said happily, throwing her arms around his shoulders.
He laughed gently, "You're welcome. But. I'm surprised, you didn't. know?"
She didn't let go, "No. I've been human all my life, how could I?"
"Maybe Professor Gill did something to you, then?" He asked, more to himself than to her.
"Maybe." She echoed.
Before he'd had the chance to understand what happened, she had pressed her lips to his in a passionate kiss. Seeing as he was slow on the uptake, she then quickly pulled back and mumbled a sorry before letting go of him.
He walked out of the room in a daze, unsure of how to handle what happened.
