CHAPTER IX. CONFUSION

Riko gazes astounded at Herindera. "Turn into a…"
"Human, yes," Herindera sighs, "how many times do we have to repeat it before you finally believe us? Your pretty persocom-girlfriend can turn into a human forever if she wants to… but, more importantly, and that is where you come in…" She grins. "…only when you love her enough. Enough to, when she has turned into a human and lost her programming, continue to love her for who she is. It is easy, Riko-san. Confess your feelings to her and she will turn into a human; she will never crash again, she will never tell you not to love her anymore."
"But this all means…" Riko whispers. "…this Nepuchun-sama… has created human kind again! That's world's biggest scoop!"
"It is," a sudden voice says, "and it's, on top of that, ethically completely unwarranted."
"Who…" Everybody looks up: Neko and Hideto have arrived, and Neko's spoken those words. It has a huge effect on everyone: Jira closes her eyes immediately, thinks Open the door, Saka! NOW! that loudly that she could have screamed instead for the same effect; Saka quickly opens the door from inside and Riko's being pushed inside, as the others surround Neko and Hideto to prevent them from sneaking in.

"Over here," Saka says, dragging Riko along with her. "I suppose they told you everything?" "They did," he gasps; she's running so fast that it's hard to catch up with her. "How's Mizumi doing, Saka?"
"Pretty badly," she confesses, "but you will see for yourself. Do not be afraid, though, but she is currently floating."
"Floating! What the…"
"Yeah, well," Saka sighs, "she hovers between her feelings, her desires… See for yourself." She lets him into the huge space he was before: Mizumi's floating into it, but seems to be surrounded by a kind of half-transparent wall.
"Mizi…" he whispers. She has heard him, looks up and helplessly stretches out her hand to him.
"Riko-chan…" He hits the wall, kicks against it furiously.
"I-can't-get-through-that-stupid-thing," he angrily groans.
"You can," Saka whispers, "if you really want to, you can… you really want to be with her, do you not?"
"What does it look like!" Riko calls, hammering against the wall.
"Stop this violence and concentrate," Saka says, "then you are able to get in."
"FINE!" he says furiously. He closes his eyes, presses his eyelids against each other.
"Well… Now try to get in."
"But that wall's still soli…"
"Just try." He nods, stretches out his hand; there's a weak resistance, then, it appears like he's getting through it. When he opens, very gently, his eyes, he finds out his arm is already half-way through the wall now. "You are almost there, just keep going!" Saka calls. He nods, closes his eyes again… then, he feels he falls through the wall, painfully lands on the floor. "You did it!" Saka yells; her voice sounds muffled from behind the wall.
"Yeah, I noticed it," he calls back grinning. He also notices he's starting to float, just like Mizumi. Must be the force field we're in that's causing that, he thinks. Then, something else catches his attention. Mizumi's stretched out her hand to him, whispering the nickname she's given him.
"Riko-chan…" And this time, he's able to grab her hand.
"I'm here with you, Mizi," he whispers, pushing her against him. "And I always will be…"

"Get out of my way!" Neko calls. "Or you force me to use this!" She holds out a small case with a button. "Nepuchun-sama made this to shut all of you off if it'd work out in the wrong way," she grins, "so I will use it eventually… it wasn't easy to lay my hands on, I have to tell you that. Your creator was smart, but not smart enough… Anyway, I can also make this situation as positively as possible for your sake. I can shut all of you off, but if you help me, I'll only have to shut number Thirteen off. You may choose."
"You are not a persocom," Herindera suddenly says. "I knew it from the start, you were way too independent to be a persocom, although you made me doubt with your accent. Very persocom-ish. And those ears… fakes, right?"
"Right," says Neko, taking off a hair-band with the persocom-ears attached to it. "You're brighter than I thought, I surely underestimated you… Not like it's gonna make any difference," she grins. "Ah, well, I'll be polite enough to introduce myself first… My real name is Neko Kagami. Hideto's fiancée."
"You!" Herindera calls, pointing furiously at Hideto. "You knew about what we are for all those times, did you not! From the moment you bought us, you knew this would happen eventually!"
"I can't and won't deny that," says Hideto calmly.
"Then why the hell did you fire Mizumi!" Herindera screams. Hideto looks at her.
"Talked enough," he says. "I'm sorry, Herindera, but if you don't let us in, you will be shut off, too, together with your sweet best friend."