Kotoko's tormented reverie was broken once again, this time by Hideki, who was somewhat flustered and still sported a slight blush as a result of his and Chi's earlier escapades. She sighed inaudibly as she turned to face him as he approached, then kneeled to be at equal eye level with her perch on the windowsill.
"Did you need something?" The laptop inquired coldly, causing Hideki to shudder inwardly, slightly surprised at the amount of animosity Kotoko could direct at him with a single glance. The persocom was incredibly useful, especially given his computer illiteracy (and the fact that, technically, Chi and Sumomo were essentially useless, at least as far as intellegence went, although Chi was improving); however, he had to admit that she rivaled some teachers that haunted his worst nightmares in her ability to convey a sufficient sense of the sentiment " I loathe every fibre of your being" without uttering a single word. Although the cold quality of her voice only served to heighten the effectiveness of that ability.
"Um..Kotoko, I've got the late shift at work tonight, so you, Chi, and Sumomo'll be on your own after Chi gets in from Chiroru around 5, okay?"
Kotoko's small face contorted into an expression of uncertainty in spite of herself. "You're letting Chi walk home alone?" Hideki sighed, obviously troubled by the idea. He'd never quite recovered from Chi's earlier abduction at the hands of Kotoko's former owner, and continued to accompany Chi to the bakery as often as possible, especially in the evenings. He knew it was probably simple paranoia, but given the events that unfolded in the few months since his discovery of Chi it was probably necessary, understandable paranoia, what with psychotic government 'coms patrolling the area and nerdy assholes like Kojima continuing to be allowed to run rampant in the streets. "There's really no other option...save having her take the day off, but you know she'd hate that." Once again, Kotoko felt the throes of jealousy preparing to rear their ugly heads and nipped them in the bud before they could completely surface. To hear him talk, she thought, rather bitterly, you'd think Chi was a regular human being, and not an, albeit cute, persocom suffering from the blonde complex. He'd seemingly forgotten that she wasn't, which was stupid on his part, in her opinion. Or was it? "Maybe she should take Sumomo with her in case she has to contact you," she offered sweetly, leaving out the hopeful "Maybe they'll both get lost again and I can live my miserable life in relative sanity." She didn't think Hideki would appreciate the idea.
She herself didn't appreciate it when Hideki chuckled, ruffling her hair slightly. "You're not getting out of babysitting duty that easily, " he joked, jumping back slightly as the smaller persocom directed a look that could've killed in his direction.
"Why am I being sentenced to purgatory for what my STUPID old master did?" Kotoko hissed, bristling as Sumomo blew that damned whistle once again. It was official, she decided. She was going to kill her. Or at least tie her up with that dark instrument of evil she enjoyed piping so much. Hideki shuddered as well. "I really should just take it...but she might cry...again.."
Kotoko eyed him critically. "She wasn't crying. She was making a pathetic squealing noise."
Hideki looked down at her sympathetically, then rose to his feet, gently lifting the laptop in his hands. "I know it's different from what you're used to," he said in that kind voice that broke Kotoko's heart whenever she heard it, especially directed towards her, "But I'm really thankful for all your help, Kotoko. Especially in the Sumomo department."
Kotoko allowed herself a tiny smile, looking away. "Oh, all right," she mumbled. "You don't have to flatter me. I'll make sure she doesn't break anything else."
Hideki grinned, replacing the laptop on the windowsill. "Thanks, Kotoko- chan."
what the hell is it with the chan suffix??
She watched him silently as he rapidly tossed his various textbooks into his backpack, navigating the remaining porn magazines he had yet to dispose of. "Chi, time to go!"
Chi bounced happily into the room, now adorned in one of her infamous frilly outfits, holding Sumomo in her arms. "Chi is ready!" she cried cheerfully, placing Sumomo on the windowsill next to Kotoko.
"Bye master!!" Sumomo shouted in an equally cheerful voice, and for a second Kotoko wondered whether persocoms could experience the 'high' effect of being on drugs--nothing normal or holy was ever that cheerful before 8 o'clock in the morning. "Bye Chi-san!! Have a nice and happy day!"
Chi leaned down to hug both laptops, a ritual she'd taken to only recently that she offered no explanation for. "Chi will be back at 5 pm," she informed them in the stern manner of a mother leaving her children to their own devices for the day. "Chi does not want Sumomo and Kotoko to answer the door for strangers...or cook without the proper safety equipment...or play with matches, because such behavior can be extremely dangerous.."
Kotoko's mouth fell open as Chi rambled on a list of crimes in which she did not wish to see either laptop engaged in her absence, most of which didn't apply to either of them logically.
Hideki caught himself right before crashing into a facefault. "Um..Chi?" he interrupted gently. " I'm sure they appreciate your concern...but I really don't think that either Sumomo or Kotoko will attempt to cook or play with matches. " He paused for a second. " Then again, Sumomo might, but Kotoko probably won't let her."
"Oh." Chi stopped, looking at Hideki curiously. " Chi just does not want Kotoko and Sumomo to be hurt, because I love them!"
Hideki smiled, grabbing Chi's hand, suddenly reminded of why he'd chosen to spend his life with her. "Let's go, Chi."
temporary event replay: last 3 minutes. recording.
"Chi just does not want Kotoko and Sumomo to be hurt, because I love them!"
recording stopped at 0:30. video file saved in personal folder.
The couple headed out the door to the sound of one of Sumomo's inspirational cheers, neither noticing the expression of pain on Kotoko's face. Maybe it was pain. Kotoko didn't notice it either.
----------------------------------------------
accessing personal folder
locate video files dated 2/15/08
total video files found: 345
sort value: date selected
order: ascending? descending?
ascending order selected
cut selected files and move to new folder
nestle within personal folder? Y N?
new folder placed within root personal folder. rename?
folder name: kojima-chan
save changes to personal folder? Y N?
changes saved. personal folder closed.
---------------------------------------------
Kotoko watched them leave, the door closing softly behind them, Sumomo's rather piercing chant finally coming to an end at their departure.
Neither laptop said anything for a few seconds of precious silence. Then Sumomo cheered. "Sumomo and Kotoko are home alone!!"
"I can barely contain my excitement." Kotoko deadpanned.
"Kotoko knows what this means, right?"
"You're going to shut yourself off in our dimwitted master's absence and remain silent for more than ten minutes?"
Sumomo grinned. "No!!" The pink laptop nimbly jumped down from the windowsill and ran over to the small tv, grabbing the remote and waving it in Kotoko's direction as though it were a declaration of war. "Come on, Kotoko! TV time!!"
Kotoko winced at the noise and ran over to Sumomo, snatching the remote from her. "Hideki can barely pay the bills without you wasting electricity and adding to his lack of a sizable income!" she scolded, ignoring Sumomo's 'sad puppy face' at the loss of her source of entertainment.
"Kotoko-chan is boorring." Sumomo sighed. "Sumomo wants to play!"
Kotoko tossed the remote on the carpet, taking on a threatening stance. "If Sumomo is bored, which is incredibly suprising for a persocom, given that they don't engage in other, self-assigned activites to give them an idea of what the concept of being bored even means, then Sumomo should turn herself off and help preserve Kotoko's sanity!"
Sumomo sighed again. "But if Sumomo turns herself off, she'll be even more bored!"
Kotoko felt her eye twitch and wondered whether her processor was finally going on the blink. "Sumomo, if you turn yourself off you won't be conscious of your boredom!"
Sumomo seemed to consider this for a moment, and then nodded in agreement. "Sumomo must admit that Kotoko has a point..."
Kotoko nearly crashed in shock. "Wow. We're actually in agreement on something." She looked towards the window, scanning the sky for burning debris. "Strange...there are no outward signs of the coming of the Apocalypse...and yet.."
"VANDAL!!" Sumomo suddenly screamed, pointing toward the door. Kotoko jumped and whirled around. "What?"
The sound of the small, cheap tv firing up was the only response she recieved, and the laptop turned around to see Sumomo hugging the remote to her chest, looking rather smug. "Sumomo thinks Kotoko is very gullible for a persocom," she commented mildly.
Kotoko wasn't sure whether to be enraged at being fooled or to be suprised by the level of cunning Sumomo had demonstrated.
She also wasn't sure what inane cartoon the pink laptop had immersed herself in, but at least she was quiet. And that was worth the expenditure of electricity. She decided to admit defeat and returned her favorite spot on the windowsill, where she could keep an eye on Sumomo.
--------------------------------------------------
Sometimes I wonder whether the person that programmed that little spectre was insane at the time. She acts like a child, in the most appalling manner that can cause you to forget that she is a normally functioning persocom at times.
I suppose her most interesting is how noisy she is. I'm not sure what I think of the amount of madness she causes--it's not normal, and being a staunch supporter of the maintenance of normality I protest it...but I guess it's bearable.
It was always so quiet, before, with my former master. There were other persocoms, over 20 of them, some still in the developmental stage...but none of them laughed, like Chi, or screamed, like Sumomo, or expressed any other form of personality save devoted servitude to our master, who was silent as well. That's probably why this new enviroment is so strange to me: I've never been around persocoms...or people...that act in the manner that my new roommates do.
I'm not really sure how they expect me to react.
I'm not sure I know how to react.
In human etiquette, when someone says "I love you", I've noticed that usually the adressee replies in kind. As expected.
I can never say those words.
not anymore
---------------------------------------------------
opening folder: kojima-chan
play video file: 2/15/08-1 0:00
She could speak now, in a rudimentary sort of way, as her self-teaching programming only worked so swiftly. He'd told her he wanted her that way: he'd designed the program himself, and under it's influence she would begin to develop her own user interface without his interference. It was an experiment, of sorts.
She wasn't sure what he meant by any of it, but she found that the sound of his voice somehow seemed right to her. Right. As if it were supposed to be. Much of the world around her was still a mystery, however, it was becoming clear. Slowly.
She now perched in his arms as he showed her the floorplan of the house, allowing her to record the layout of rooms and equipment and sort out the twists and turns of the hallways. It was a lot of information for Kotoko to take at once, especially given the manner in which she was forced to percieve the area--by expanding the scope of her visual receptors and increasing her range of vision, then reseting them to take in minor detail. She wasn't sure what the purpose of this activity was, but if he wished her to do it, then she would. Willingly.
They continued down the main hallway towards the living room, as he called it--and suddenly collided with the first person Kotoko had seem since opening her eyes. Kotoko clung to her master's arm to keep from falling, and the woman jumped back as Kojima straightened himself out. "My apologies, master." She murmured demurely, bowing and allowing her long blue hair to fall delicately over her face, and Kotoko blinked in confusion. He was her master as well?
"No problem." Kojima replied coolly, holding the smaller persocom up to face the newcomer. "Kotoko, this is Yukino."
"Yukino." Kotoko repeated, filing away the face and the name. "Is Yukino...a persocom as well, master?"
"One among many." Kojima chuckled, and Yukino narrowed her eyes slightly.
Kotoko looked up at her master with interest. "But Yukino is the same...height as master is!"
"Yukino is an older model of persocom. I created her long before laptop persocoms with full-model capabilities came into style." Kotoko noticed that the light in Yukino's eyes diminished, her frown becoming more accentuated. What did her expression mean?
"But if Yukino is older than I am...why am I smaller? Am I a less.." What was that word? "..advanced persocom than Yukino because of my size?"
"Oh, don't worry, little Kotoko," Kojima replied airily, not without a touch of pride. "These days big things come in small packages. You're a hundred times more advanced than Yukino will ever be."
Kotoko felt herself smile at the pride in his voice, once again feeling the twinge of something she had yet to identify as happiness at the thought of having made her master happy.
And Yukino stared in silence, her cold green eyes watching the laptop in her master's arms with something Kotoko wouldn't be able to identify until much later.
Hatred.
video file paused 7:34