CHAPTER VI. CURSE

"No... Mizi..."
"Forget her," Jira sighs, sitting in the grass next to Riko. "It sounds harsh, I know, but it is for the best. Her heart has broken, do not let your own heart break, too!"
"You don't understand it," says Riko gloomily, "you have no idea what this means to me..."
"Well, I do have a 'heart', Riko-san," says Jira, "I can understand the meaning of sadness, but I never experienced a broken heart. So no, I can not understand what you are going through at the moment." He glares into the distance, sighs.
"Y'know, it's strange," he suddenly mutters, "how much I care about her while we know each other for how long, a few months? And I never hesitated to acknowledge the way I feel about her, even though she's a persocom." Jira smiles.
"Yeah, that is Nepuchun-sama's fault," she says, "Mizumi was made to have a heart, and to complete it, he installed something – I do not know what exactly, because he did not installed it in that shape into Saka and me – that gives her the ability to love and be loved. Nepuchun-sama, though, was afraid that no guy would dare to love her because she is a persocom, and so... something in that programming... can make the person who secretly likes her back, fall madly in love with her all of a sudden."
"So I'm the first victim of her programming," says Riko, smiling weakly. Jira nods.
"Yes... the first one, too," she giggles, "so, congratulations on your scoop, Riko-san!"
"Should I be happy with it, then?"
"You may decide," she grins. "Anyway, chatted enough, I should get back to the restaurant before Tazuka-san fires me, too. What are you going to do?"
"Try to get back in that house, I suppose," he says. "Due that programming or not, I do like her a lot. I want to help her." Jira shrugs.
"Well, I just hope you manage to get into that house and complete that new duty of yours. Good luck, and see you!"

"Did you calm down now, mother?" Mizumi glares at her 'daughter' gloomily.
"Yes... why did I send him away, Saka? I do not even know it myself..." Saka sighs, embraces her mother.
"I know," she says, "you are scared, are you not? You like him, but you know that strong feelings will make you crash, just like what has happened today." Mizumi sighs.
"And besides all of that... I feel so guilty, Saka. If he is feeling attracted to me, it is my fault... All because of my programming..."
"How did you find out about that?" asks Saka calmly. "I can not remember someone told you about it."
"I found it out just now," Mizumi mutters, "I was in the capsule, I had contact with Nepuchun-sama's soul. He told me this. All about this...curse."
"Mother, it is not a curse!" says Saka immediately. "You should be happy that our creator made this all possible for you! You are the only one with this gift, the rest of us will never feel it like you can now!"
"Be happy!" Mizumi calls. "Be happy you can not feel it, Saka! I wish I was like you! An A.I., an Artificial Intelligence that does not crash the whole day, that does not have to 'live' with this curse! It is not a bless to love, Saka, it really is a curse!" She falls down on her knees. "A curse that will destroy me eventually..."
"Do not talk like that!" Saka says, grabbing Mizumi's shoulders. "You are improving, did you never noticed that? In the beginning, you crashed when Riko-san asked him to call him by name, and now you can even call him Riko-chan without a pain!"
"I will not improve fast enough to survive all of this," Mizumi whispers, "it is the reason, the only reason I keep telling him: "Don't love me"! But I know that, due to the curse that's laid on me, his feelings can not be hidden for long anymore. And there is more..." She lays her hand against her chest. "If he tells me he loves me and I will cease to function, not only my heart will be broken. His heart will be, too... And I do not want him to die. I wish I never grew to like him this much, Saka!" she cries. "It can not end on a proper way anymore... I signed my own 'death' with these feelings I am having..." She lays her hands against her face, cries for a long while. "I can not take this any longer, Saka... Maybe I should just fit an end to this..."
"Mother, NO!"
"Don't talk like that, Mizi." The persocoms both look up: Riko's standing in the door's opening. "It took me a while, but I managed to get in again," he says, "and I've heard everything."