12 January 2008
Dear Diary,
Today is the day Asuka Shinn, yours truly, begins the journey toward his own future. Seeing that as a man I have to blaze my own way toward the numerous obstacles, I decided that this is the choice I have to take. I will leave the farm and go to Tokyo.
"Do I have to go to Tokyo?" Shinn whined as he scooped cows' manure into a bucket to be used as fertiliser. .
"You have to enter prep school, if you want to enter college" said his father who was also doing the same work. He then stopped and wiped his sweaty face with a towel. "Or else, you can stay here and just take over my job"
Shinn gave his father a look that says, 'Do you think I'm stupid?'
19 January 2008
Dear Diary,
Today is the day I leave for Tokyo. My mother and sister were crying their hearts out. But it was too late. I have cast my decision in stone and as a Japanese man, there's no way that I'm going to turn on my decision. Ah, women. They're always like to cry. It's senseless, really. Then again, women are always senseless.
"WAHH! I DON'T WANT TO GO! I CHANGED MY MIND" Shine wailed.
"Don't you dare tell me that!" Mayu, his sister said. "I let you take my favourite chocolate bar because you're going to leave" She put a finger under her chin. "Hmm… I suppose it would be lonely without you here…"
"See?" Shinn said.
Mayu grinned. "Like I'm going to miss my brother hogging the television. Finally, I can watch the Korean drama 'Autumn Requiem' in peace"
Shinn blanched.
"Shinn?" his mother, the ever so gentle creature called out.
"Yes mum?"
"Don't wet your bed too much!"
His father and Mayu had trouble controlling their laughter.
"Mum!"
"BEEP! BEEP!" The driver of the truck who was waiting for Shinn got impatient and blew the truck's horn.
20 January 2008
Dear Diary,
Today I arrived at Tokyo in pursue of my greatest dream. It was there that I first saw 'them'
Shinn stared at the girl as she talked to the man next to her. What made him stare was the fact that the girl had strange looking ears. "Persocom?" He uttered. "This is the first time I see it live"
I have heard, watched and read about the so-called, 'Personal Computer' or Persocom in short. Made to look and move like a human being, a Persocom can do a lot of things, if proper software is installed. Even the way they talk is almost indistinguishable as compared to humans. But to me, they're just computers and couldn't be compared to human beings.
The young man ran toward a nearby Persocom store and marvelled at the Persocoms on display. "Ah, in the country where I live, there's no one who own a Persocom. Man, they're so amazing looking. Cute to boot!" Eyes glazed, he checked each one of them. "They're so nice! I want one too. I want one!" He keep checking them until he saw something that caused his jaw to drop. "600,000 yen!" He turned away, shouting, "You must be kidding me! There's no way I can buy one!"
He was greeted with everyone eyes on him.
"Some kind of a freak show?" someone's voice was whispering.
"Maybe he escaped from a mental institution?"
"Poor kid, the heat probably got to him"
"How strange!" another one said.
"Mom, he's scaring me!" a girl's voice, clearly on the verge of crying
"Hush. Masako. Pretend that you didn't see him"
Greatly embarrassed, Shinn chuckled nervously.
The crowd took a step away from him.
"I'm sorry about this"
The crowd took two steps away this time.
Realising that he was making a big fool of himself, Shinn quickly ran away from the scene, stopping only when he felt that he got away far enough. "Man, that's so embarrassing. I wish I can stop talking to myself. Back then in the country, the only things around my beside my family and the neighbours are cows and chickens. Mayu warned me about this will getting me into some uncomfortable situations. Sigh"
Due to my untapped navigation ability, it was a snap finding the apartment where I was supposed to live.
"Damn it! I'm lost for more than two hours trying to find the apartment. Heck, an apartment with 'Dullindal' as its name is supposed to be easy to find!" As Shinn walked around, he thought about Persocoms and how close they were to human being. He would certainly want to have one, but the fact that with that kind of money, he could almost buy a brand new car for himself. That brought him to a conclusion that perhaps people in the urban area have more money to spend lavishly. The train of thought continued until he couldn't control himself.
"I want my own Persocom!"
"I wanna be able to send email!" Shinn was getting pumped up and full of energy.
"I want to be able to send INSTANT MESSAGING!"
"AND MOST OF ALL, I WANT TO USE INTERNET TO SEE PORN SITE!" he shouted with full spirit.
"Porn sites?" a feminine voice inquired.
"Wahh!" Shinn uttered in surprise as he took in the sight of a petite and cute girl with red hair holding a broom. He turned away. "There I go again, degrading myself in front of a cute girl like that" Then deciding that he had the perfect opportunity to ask the girl for the direction, he turned around. "Oh, excuse me. I was searching for an apartment by the name of Dullindal. I know the name sounds rather strange, but have you heard about it?"
The girl nodded and looked at the building to her left. "This is the place"
Shinn turned toward the same direction as well. "Oh… I see" Then his jaw dropped. "WHAT!"
"You must be Shinn Asuka, the new tenant. I'm Meyrin Hawke, the caretaker" Meyrin smiled as she bowed.
"Care… caretaker?" He quickly turned away. "No wonder the apartment's name is strange. The caretaker seems to be a foreigner as well. And she looked so young too. I wonder how old is she?"
"Um… I'm 16 going on 17" Meyrin said shyly.
"What? How do you know what I was thinking?"
"I heard you talking to yourself just now"
"Figures…"
It was obvious that the caretaker was taken in by my charm, but I'm there at Tokyo to study.
"Here's your room, Asuka-san" Meyrin said as she opened the door. "The gas, electric and water are ready to be used"
"It's small compared to my old room. But I guess this is what I can afford with the money I have" Shinn thought to himself.
"Zala-san put everything inside this room. I hope that it's okay"
"No, not at all. By the way, who's Zala-san?"
"Your next door neighbour" Meyrin said as she walked toward the door. "Right now he's outside, but he'll return soon"
"I see. I'll be sure to thank him properly later"
"Well, if you need to ask me anything, my room will be at 101" Meyrin bowed slightly. "Once again, it's a pleasure to meet you"
Shinn bowed a few times. "My pleasure too"
I quickly unpacked my things. It was then Zala-san came over
"First, I must search for my magazines"
"KNOCK KNOCK" There was a rapping sound on the door.
"Ooh. Must be the caretaker" Shinn said as he got up and walked toward the door enthusiastically. He opened the door, saying, "Oh, Miss Caretak…"
He was stopped as something jumped on his face and a party popper was popped in front of his face, causing him to lose his balance and fell on the floor unceremoniously.
The thing on his face danced, playing with a tambourine. "Congrats! Congrats! Congratulation for moving in!"
Surprised, Shinn got up, "What the hell?"
His action caused the small thing, a very small girl-like puppet to jump away to a blue haired man. "Master, he's scary. According to my analysis, there's a 20 percent chance that he can turn into a depressed maniac hung up on a pink hand phone"
The blue haired man laughed as he scooped the girl and put it on his left shoulder. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I'm Athrun Zala, and I live in room 204"
"Oh, you're the one who carried my things. Thank you very much! Zala-san"
"You can just call me Athrun. Quit the polite stuff. After all, I'm not accustomed to the Japanese language yet"
"Ah"
"By the way, I heard from Miss Hawke that you're going to Nuzumi Prep School next week, right?"
"Yes" Shinn nodded. It was rather strange that the caretaker and the other tenant were foreigners; perhaps the dorm was meant for someone from outside of Japan. Maybe that's why the house had a rather strange name… He mentally shook his head.
"Me too"
"EH? Why?"
"I've always wanted to enter a college in Japan"
"Oh…"
"Yup" Athrun extended his hand.
Shinn gratefully accepted his hand and took the opportunity to examine the thing that was on Athrun's shoulder. "By the way, what is this?"
"Oh, this is my Persocom"
"It's small"
"Of course, since it's a mobile version"
"I see"
"Introduce yourself" Athrun said to his small Persocom.
"Yes" The Persocom said as it jumped on to Athrun's hand. "I'm Luna. Please to meet you" she said as she did a Western bow.
"Wow, you're amazing!" Shinn said to Luna.
"Wahh!" Luna screamed as she scrambled to Athrun's head. "He's going into Berserker mode"
Athrun sighed at his Persocom's antic and turned toward Shinn. "I'm surprised that someone would react like that to my Persocom. Haven't you seen a portable Persocom before?"
"No. Actually, I don't have any either"
"That's strange. Normally, whenever a new technology comes out, Japanese people would be the first to get it"
"Even if I get one, I don't know how to maintain it"
"That's even stranger" Athrun quipped.
"And I don't know how to make them work"
"Oh, that's no problem. When you switch it on, the OS and the modules would take over"
"You sound very knowledgeable in Persocom" Shinn stated.
"I have to in order to take care of Luna"
"By the way, what are her abilities?"
Athrun smiled. "Well, she can perform a search using the search engines"
"Search engines?"
"They're websites that allows you to search for other websites"
"I see" Shinn brought his face nearer to Luna who retreated to behind Athrun's head.
"She can also read my email, function as my mobile phone and remind me of things I need to remember"
Shinn fidgeted nervously. "That's all?"
It took Athrun a few seconds to understand the hidden question that was asked. "Well… I'm not really into it, but I can also view the Porn sites using Luna. It's the basic thing she can do"
The other man smiled. "Oh, I see"
The dinner wasn't much to shout about, but sometimes I marvel at my culinary expertise.
"Would you like me to warm it up for you?" the female-like Persocom who was standing behind the cash register asked him nicely.
"Uh, yeah. Sure"
A few minutes later saw Shinn leaving the convenient store, looking at his watch while his left hand was holding the food stuff he bought. "Damn, it's 10.00 o'clock already? I better get home fast"
As he walked along, his thought flew back to the cute Persocoms he saw throughout the day. "Persocoms are really amazing. There're a lot of things that they can do. The one at the convenient store can even handle the cash registers"
He sighed.
"Luna, Athrun's Persocom's is a few centimetres high, but she can really do a lot of things, including receiving his calls" Shinn chuckled. "Now that's what I call a mobile phone"
Shinn imagined all the Persocoms he had seen.
"Sigh. I'm so jealous"
"But even if I want one so badly, I can't afford it… and I'm computer illiterate to boot" His eyes widened. "To boot? Hey, I unintentionally made a pun!"
A few seconds later, his shoulders dropped. "Sigh. I want a Persocom"
Shinn continued walking.
As he walked near a dumpster, he thought out aloud. "I wish there's a cute one lying around here than I can just pick up for free"
He chuckled. "Well, that's too much to ask for" Meanwhile, he didn't notice that he was walking past a lifeless body.
A few steps later, he stopped and turned slowly toward the body. Then he slowly turned back to the front and breathed slowly. "Waah! A dead body!" Shinn shouted as he bolted toward the nearest place that he could think off, which is a nearby electric post.
It was the first time that I met it… or rather her. Although surprised, I certainly wasn't scared at that time.
Despite his chattering teeth, Shinn managed to say, "Maybe it's one of the conspiracies whereby the criminals killed the songstress so that they could replace her with a close look-alike. Then they'll use the look-alike to fool everyone… hey, what the hell am I saying?"
Taking a big gulp, he bravely extended his head. It was then he noticed the spiral on the body's ear. "What the… It's just a Persocom" he said as he gathered his dropped things and began to walk away.
A few steps later, he stopped again. "Wait the minute…" he said as he scurried to the dumping ground. "This is a Persocom… and this place is a dumping ground…" He examined at the Persocom. The humanoid machine had almost nothing on except for the bindings surrounding its body. It, or rather 'she' as concluded by him, had short blonde hair, which definitely made her look very cute.
"This means that no one wants her. It would be a waste to let her in this state; the Blue Cosmos environmental group would protest against burning Persocoms as they would release a lot of pollutions into the air and dioxins that will damage the ozone layer. Yosh! I will bring her home, take care of her and probably get to name her as well. Then… Porn sites, here I come!"
He tried to lift the Persocom but was unable to do so due to her intense weight. Drawing a big breath, he tried once more.
I brought the Persocom back to my place
Shinn stood on the balcony of his room, panting. "Damn, that was heavy. I wonder if Luna… scratch that. She's the mobile version" He turned toward the room in the direction of the Persocom he had salvaged. The Persocom was propped against the wall, not moving. He turned back to the front a grin threatened to split his face. "It's rather amazing that I managed to get myself a Persocom… It's rather out of this world… It's STELLAR!" Shinn shouted as he put his fist in the air.
Then realising that perhaps the Persocom was at the dumping ground for a reason, he lowered his hand and went to the Persocom. Giving her a look-over, he surmised that the Persocom was pretty new, and pretty as well. But he wondered why the owner would throw her away after paying so much money for it. "Well, I'll try to switch it on"
Instantly, the Persocom came to life after I switched it on
"Where is the damn button?" Shinn wailed as he continued pressing the Persocom's body. "For the past hour, I've tried to locate the switch on button but still unable to find one. I've pressed the nose, the ear, the forehead, all of the fingers on the toe and even those two as well," he said while blushing while looking at the two mounds on her chest.
He leaned on the wall. "Ah… I'll rest a bit… I'll ask Athrun tomorrow. Maybe this model needs to be activated through voice command or remote control, although Athrun did say that…"
Then, something hit him. "Wait… I haven't tried that place yet…" He chuckled. "Nah, couldn't be… But what if…." He moved toward the Persocom cautiously. "I'm not thinking of any perverted thought…" he said as he extended his forefinger toward that place. At the very large minute, he lost his nerve and stopped.
"Calm down Shinn" he said to himself. "Think happy thought… think happy thought…" Instantly his head was filled with happy, but not so descent thought that he had to shake his head to clear it. It was at this time he didn't notice that his finger was inside her and accidentally pressed a small knob hidden at a very discrete location.
Instantly, the Persocom began to convulse, causing Shinn to back away in surprise. As she straightened herself up and began to float a few centimeters off the floor, the binding that held her broke loose, leaving her as bare as a baby on the day it was born. The situation itself was a bit ironic because, for a Persocom, the fact that the day their 'on' button was pressed, it was activated and considered to be 'born'.
"Eh heh heh. I suppose I've done it at last" Shinn said as he marveled at the idol of beauty in front of him. He couldn't help blushing at the sight of the naked Persocom looking around her.
The artificial girl then settled her gaze on Shinn and began to crawl toward him, expression of curiosity apparent on her face. "Shi…"
"Wow, you got my name right!" Shinn exclaimed.
"Shi?" came the confused question.
"I am Shinn" Shinn offered.
"Shii…." The girl uttered.
Shinn realized that the Persocom in front of him wasn't making the sound because of she knew his name; rather it was the only sound she could make. "That's strange… you can't talk except for Shi sound…" He breathed out. "Maybe that's why the previous owner threw you out…"
The Persocom seemed to understand what he was saying and grabbed a part of his t-shirt, worry creasing its otherwise beautiful face.
The young boy raised his eyebrows for a second before breaking into a sweet smile and put a hand on her head. "Don't worry. I'm not going to throw you away. After all, I went through a lot of trouble just to get you home. Frankly speaking, I'm already satisfied with the fact that I have you as my Persocom. You're already amazing to me…"
"SHI!" the Persocom cried happily, throwing her arms around him.
Instinctively, Shinn put his hands on her back
You know diary, although this is the first time I've met Stellar, my new Persocom, somehow I have the feeling that from now on, my life would change greatly
1
Author's note (27 September 2006)
1) This story is a CO with Chobits, with Shinn x Stellar theme. That reminds me, please read the disclaimer below
"All of the Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny's rights belong to their prospective owners, and all of the ideas the Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny's writer took from other owners belong to their respective owners as well"
2) Yes, if you look at the story status, it is completed. Actually, I have a pretty good idea of how to continue on, but I don't have the creative energy to write it. So I hope you're happy with this kind of open ending. But I suppose, if I'm to continue, I'll probably write about Stellar learning to talk while Shinn searches for her background info, Athrun's falling in love with a certain fiery teacher at the prep school, and the problem a damn good hacker had in relation with his own relationship with a certain pink haired Persocom. In the end, Shinn would face trials that caused him to question his feeling for her despite their inherent differences. That would go into 'season one' while the 'season two' would shed some light on her 'real background' as two military Persocoms seek to take her back (any guess on how those two might be:-) )
Special Information
This story is brought to you by the person who believes that the Gundam Seed writer made Blue Cosmos evil probably because she views the ecological Green Peace as evil. For the reasoning behind my view, please looked at Fallen Angel C21, 'Pawns in Gilbert's game' at the very bottom.
I also believes that the writer also based Stellar on 'Chi', a character in the famous CLAMP's Chobits series. I know some of you may already know about that, but some may be interested to know too. Below is my reasoning why I believe that Stellar is based on Chi
a) Chi have limited vcabulary in the beginning, only simple sentences like, "Hideki happy" or 'Chi!". Stellar also have limited speech capability, uttering, "Stellar protects" or "Kowaii!"
b) The cognitive capability of Stellar is different compared to her two colleagues, Auel and Sting. In fact, the two seem pretty normal to me. But, if we compare Stellar to Chi, we can see that their level is almost the same
c) Despite her weaknesses, Stellar can be said as the most skillful Second Generation Extended. Despite her weakness or childlike attitude (compared to other Persocoms around her) Chi is the most powerful Persocom in the world.
d) In the first episode of GSD, Stellar was seen as wearing a very pretty blue dress while the other two were wearing pretty normal clothing (although Auel's clothing reminds me of Hans Solo). This is weird until we consider the fact that Chi also wore a dress like that.
e) Both have yellow hair (I know this is nit picking, but in light of the other facts, this seems more prominent)
f) Neo always put his hand on Stellar's head to placate her; Hideki always put his hand on Chi's head as well
g) Hideki accepts Chi as what she was; the same with Shinn.
