Sounds like I won't have a muse after all, with what bots are roaming around and what not. Uhm..so, to summarize what I said earlier, this is my first fanfic, so R&R, is it? I don't know these terms so well. Oh, and enjoy the story.

Disclaimer - I don't know why this is necessary, since it's fanfiction, but I don't own Chobits. All the better, since I'd probably mess it up if I owned it. (laugh)

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Worthless Efficiency – Chapter 1

Integrity, a sense of inner well-being, is usually far from present. Through love, one can see the impurities that have spread in oneself, because love cannot survive so easily if the unpure are attempting to commit such a selfless act. If one is by himself or herself, it is far easier to become closer to desired purity but more difficult to correct bad habits when they have been established.

To create and develop true character, a thoughtful, not a despicable, vile, insensitive—

Takako chuckled. She rarely could write decent essays anymore. They had become increasingly more biased and circled around the individual she both hated and adored the most. He had plagued her mind since their first chance encounter, and although she had seemingly everlasting dreams of Shinbo, it was difficult to keep her mind away from her first love. Rusted keys jingled on a plastic band, one labeled with scratched boldened words of 'Home'. Her eyes looked down several times whenever the light breeze pushed the worthless shaped pieces of metal back and forth. That was all her old apartment key was now, wasn't it..? An old, worthless piece of shaped metal.

"Mrs. Shimizu?"

Her eyes suddenly lifted from her key ring to her papers. With a sudden jerk to get up from her desk, her hands abruptly moved down her skirt to dust herself off. Why did she do that? She shook her head and bumped the desk, her pen rolling off the unfinished essay to make the only sound in the now awkward silence throughout the classroom. Takako cursed mentally for her lack of attention to the students.

"Mrs. Shim—"

"I heard you, Hideki. You may all leave class now."

Hideki turned silent with hardly a word to say. The class had come to a lasting standstill, although a few stood up to leave at Mrs. Shimizu's command. Hideki hastily stumbled around the desks and chairs to move closer to his teacher.

"I'm..uhm..sorry..ah..I didn't mean to..you know," Hideki said as he uncomfortably looked at her.

Sheepishly smiling afterwards, he added, "Teachers need breaks too, right?"

Shinbo came up beside Hideki and swung his left arm up to rest upon his shoulder. He noticed Takako's frequent mood swings faster than anyone else, although to most, they were probably unnoticeable in the first place.

"Takako, call me later, alright?" Shinbo asked. He motioned to Hideki with a casual point of his index finger, continuing, "I'm taking this guy for some real food."

"Awesome, you're buying?" Hideki exclaimed.

Shinbo winked at Takako and pushed Hideki out the door, replying, "Don't I always?"

Thrusting his arm out to Hideki a bit too roughly, Hideki reacted to Shinbo with a shout before he noticed he forgot to bring his book bag.

"I'll go get it; you run over and save some spots for us at the bakery," Shinbo yelled, skidding back to Takako's classroom. Hideki, a ways from Shinbo and near the school front entrance, nodded in mild confusion as he moved on. Stepping into the abandoned room, he muttered Takako's name. No response. He tried louder, looking around more seriously. The cram school room was empty. She was gone. The lone character ran his fingers through his hair and looked up in mild frustration. Where could she have gone? Remembering his promise to Hideki, Shinbo half-heartedly walked out of the room and through the hallways. An echo that seemed to call out his name forced Shinbo to look back to see if it was her..but no one met his gaze. Shaking his head, he walked out and attempted to reach her by cellphone.

A melody played from a cellphone sitting next to Takako's. She had re-dressed into an old flower-printed cream skirt with a rose-colored tank top to match. A light pink ribbon fell from her small hip and laced around loosely as its ends met in a neatly-tied bow. Takako looked at herself in the mirror. Just like old times, right? She remembered how his arms wrapped around her thin frame, enveloping her with a special sort of warmth she had never felt before. His face appeared in her head..Always smiling. Without a care in the world, successful at the start of his career..loving her like there was no tomorrow. He had provided her with safety and a seemingly everlasting compassion...Takako slumped onto the carpeted floor and started to cry. Her shaking hands formed into white-knuckled fists as they hammered the ground.

"Why...didn't I...try hard enough...Why didn't..he..love me.."