CHAPTER VII. FATE
"Riko-chan..." Mizumi whispers. He walks towards her, kneels in front of her. "I told you not to come back..."
"I had to." He caresses her face. "I know what's going on here, Mizi. I know how my feelings were born... But it can't only be your programming that makes me feel like this."
"Do not say this," Mizumi mutters, "I am serious, do not... I do not want us to die..."
"I won't let that happen, Mizi." She looks up gloomily.
"It is not like you can decide about that," she says, "only Nepuchun-sama's programming can... If you tell me this, our fate has been decided and will eventually happen."
"She is right," Saka whispers, "sorry, Riko-san, but she is really right. We did not tell you to leave for nothing, you know."
"I am sorry, so sorry," Mizumi says with pity in her voice, "but it will be your death if you do not leave now. So please, go."
"But..."
"Do not let me force you again," she whispers, "please leave voluntarily now you still can."
"Wow, you look depressed," says Hideto, when Riko's taken a table at Crystal Dragon. "Dumped by your girlfriend or something?"
"Kind of," Riko mutters, glaring gloomily in the distance. He notices some persocoms are looking carefully at him.
"Uh-oh," says Hideto softly, "tell me, is this gloomy mood connected with the disappearance of three of my persocoms, including Mizumi?" Riko nods gently; immediately, his table is surrounded by the final ten persocoms.
"Really? Where are they?"
"Why did they go?"
"What is going on here!"
"Oh, please," Riko sighs, "not all of you at the same moment!" He looks at them, points at the tallest one. "You... ehr..."
"Meari," she sighs, "do we have to introduce ourselves first, then?"
"Wouldn't be unnecessary luxury," is Riko's opinion. Immediately, ten hands are stretched out to him.
"Ameiru, number one."
"Meari, number two."
"Hitori, number three." A persocom with blonde hair in two ponytails.
"Hikaku, number four." A persocom with black hair in a clip.
"Kiria, number five." Hair like Mizumi's, green eyes.
"Herindera, number six." A silence, then:
"Asuka, number then." Long braids like Herindera, but brown. She smiles. "Herindera's daughter."
"Oh, shut up," Herindera groans. The introduction continues with unknown faces for Riko.
"Sunako, number eleven." Green hair, blue eyes.
"Ômiya, number twelve." Purple hair, pink eyes.
"Jinja, number thirteen." Blue hair, red eyes. Riko looks at all of them.
"I miss that Neko here," he says, "and by the way, Jinja, I thought Mizumi was number thirteen?"
"We ourselves use the counting in order we have been created," Jinja says. "The counting used by Tazuka-san has been given to us by our creator, in the order of how complex the persocom is, including the ability of her heart. Mizumi is the most developed one, despite of later models like Saka and Jira. And about Neko..." She points at the kitchen. "Over there, probably eavesdropping us."
"Oh, you," Neko groans, appearing from the kitchen indeed. "What is going on? I did not hear all of it, you know."
"Mizumi, Saka and Jira are gone, probably because of you," says Herindera sneeringly, "and we are waiting for Riko to tell us why they went off, where, how long etceteras. So, Riko-san?" They all gaze at him.
"Well, ehr, after Mizumi'd been fired, Saka and Jira ran away, as you probably know," he says, repeating Saka's words from earlier that day. "Mizumi contacted them when she was crashing after her encounter with Neko, and so they tried to help her. Jira brought her back to the house of her creator, Nepuchun-sama, while Saka waited for me to tell me what Mizumi told her: that I never should see her again... Then there was a lot of complicated talking about the way Mizumi was built, and in the end, when I finally managed to get into the building, she sent me away."
"That stupid...!" says Neko immediately, "she crashed! The most complicated persocom crashed and was brought to that place? How wrong things can go!" Everybody glares at her.
"How do you know that, Neko?" asks Kiria coolly.
"Let me help you, mother," Saka begs, "let me help you, please... you know your secret, your gift. You also know Nepuchun-sama's power is able to help you."
"I do not want to use his magic when I do not need it," Mizumi whispers, lying on the floor. Saka glares sadly at her.
"Please mother, accept help! You know the disaster that will strike when you cease to function! Then the whole Nepuchun-series were for nothing, then none of us will be able to use our wonderful gift you can start!"
"That gift is surely not as wonderful as you think," Mizumi whispers, "I would rather cease to function than use it, now..."