Chii swung her legs back and forth as she sat on her hospital bed. She was bored. She was also very confused. For the first time in her existence, Chii was experiencing emotions, emotions like boredom, anxiety, and fear. It wasn't all bad though. Chii was also enjoying the emotion of love, which now seemed more real than ever before.

"Chii loves Hideki. Hideki is Chii's special someone." She hugged herself. "Chii is human now, just like Hideki."

For some reason unknown to her, the thought that she was human made Chii very happy. Then, a voice broke through Chii happy reverie.

"Yuki! You're awake!" A woman with tears on her cheeks rushed over to Chii and swept her into a hug. Chii was confused but she stayed still. "Yuki, honey, say something. Do you know who I am?"

Chii shook her head. "Chii does not know. Why did you hug Chii? Are you a special someone?"

The woman took a heartbroken gasp and broke down into bitter tears. "Yuki, my daughter.... You are lost."

Chii squirmed. Tears meant sadness, and Chii did not like it when people were sad. She jumped off the bed and knelt by the woman. "Why are you sad? Has Chii done something bad?"

The woman looked up in amazement. "Why do you care? You aren't Yuki... I should've known I'd lost her forever."

"Chii does not know Yuki. But Chii can search."

"what?" asked the confused woman, but Chii had already retreated into herself.

Chii did not grasp the concept that no longer being a persocom, she couldn't "search" in the computer sense of the word. However, although in a human body, Chii's consciousness was very much that of a computer.

"Chii has found Yuki."

The woman gasped and grabbed Chii fiercely by the shoulders. "Where? Where is she? Is she alive?"

Chii struggled to be free of the woman's grasp, feeling pain. "Chii is hurt, please don't hurt Chii."

The woman didn't release Chii from her iron grasp. "Get out of my daughter's body you machine! Leave her alone."

At that moment, Hideki came into the room and taking one look at the situation, flew in to rescue a very frightened and bewildered Chii.

"Mrs. Koishikawa, please, you're frightening Chii!"

"Chii!? Chii?! Who cares about your COMPUTER?! I want my daughter, she's trapped in there and... Yuki...." Exhausted by her strong emotions the woman sank weakly to the floor. "This... this isn't real. This can't be real."

Hideki shook his head. "Believe me, I wish it weren't. But we're going to find a way to fix this. Now, what about your daughter? Did Chii say something?"

Mrs. Koishikawa nodded. "She said she'd do a search, and then her eyes became all unfocused and then she'd said she'd found Yuki."

Chii turned her face to look up at Hideki. "Chii did find Yuki. Yuki calls this woman 'mom'."

"Oh god..." said Mrs. Koishikawa weakly as she got up slowly and sat on Chii's bed. She turned to Chii hesitantly. "I'm sorry about earlier. I... was overreacting. Please, tell me about Yuki. Is she alright?"

Chii nodded. "Yuki is alright. Yuki says she is happy to be awake, but she wants to know what happened. She says sharing her body with Chii feels weird."

"I can imagine..." murmured Yuki's mother. She turned to Hideki. "Mr. Motosuwa, I presume that this Chii is your persocom. Can you tell me what happened?"

Hideki quickly explained and Yuki's mother sighed. "It would seem to me that the only way to remove Chii's data from my daughter's brain would be to give Chii a new body to return to, and connect the two the same way they were connected before." She paused a moment. "Perhaps with the persocom's data gone, my daughter will remain awake."

"Do you know much about computers Mrs. Koishikawa?"

"Yes. My husband is a top programmer at the Princess Piffle corporation. He has worked with Persocom's before."

Hideki smiled, but his smile quickly turned to a worried frown.

"Hideki? What is wrong? Is Hideki worried?"

"It's alright Chii, I'm just not sure where I'll get the money to give you a new body. You're old one is... beyond repair." Hideki ran his hair through his hands. "Maybe Minoru can help. Excuse me Chii, I'm going to go find him."

Chii nodded. "Yes Hideki should find Minoru." Hideki left the room and Chii sat down on her bed next to Mrs. Koishikawa. After a while, Chii became awake of a discomfort low in her tummy. She tugged on Mrs. Koishikawa's sleeve. "Chii does not feel well."

Mrs. Koishikawa looked at Chii with concern. "What's wrong?" she asked sharply. This was, after all, her daughter's body.

"Chii hurts here," said Chii, pointing to her tummy.

"Oh. You must be hungry." Mrs. Koishikawa smiled in relief, and Chii smiled back. Perhaps this has been a blessing in disguise she thought to herself as she went to get some food for Chii. After all, Yuki is awake now. And when we get that persocom out of her body, she might remain that way. No reason she shouldn't. Feeling much better about the whole situation, she went back to Chii's room and offered her a sandwich.

Chii took it and looked at it curiously. "What does Chii do?"

"You've never eaten before, have you?" asked Mrs. Koishikawa amazedly. "That's right, I keep on forgetting you've never been alive before. Here, like this." She took a bit of Chii's sandwich, chewed with exaggerated motions and swallowed, showing Chii that the food was no longer in her mouth.

Chii followed her example and after a couple of tried managed to get the hang of it. When she finished the sandwich she brushed the crumbs off her fingers and smiled. "Chii feels better, but Chii's tummy still hurts."

Mrs. Kopishikawa thought for a brief moment and then understood perfectly. Chii, being a computer, knew nothing about how human's lived. She didn't know how to eat... or go to the bathroom. A wave of pity washed over her for poor Chii, who she knew must feel very bewildered, an emotion that would be real now that Chii was human.

"Come with me dear," said Mrs. Koishikawa tenderly as she led Chii to the bathroom.

"I see," said Minoru when Hideki had told him all that Yuki's mother had told him. "There is a chance it'll work, so I think we should give it a try."

Hideki shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Uh, Minoru? I don't have enough money to get a new body for Chii..." he trailed off.

Minoru smiled. "It'll be my pleasure to build Chii a new body." He frowned slightly. "I'll need Ms. Hibya's specs for Chii though. I'd like for Chii's body to be as close to the original as possible."

Hideki nodded, relieved that Chii would be able to go back to the way she was. "I'll get them. Thanks Minoru."

Minoru nodded. "Chii is my friend," he said quietly. "She is like Yuzuki."

Hideki nodded and left to go find his apartment manager.