"Let's all raise our arms! Come on, guys, stretch!" Cried Sumomo.
Kotoko cringed. All she wanted to do was relax, but the hyper persocom had other ideas. With a sigh, Kotoko closed her eyes and focused on connecting wirelessly to the Internet. The news was usual, another persocom stolen, a lost inhaler was found by a mini persocom, someone else had died and left everything to their persocom...
Bleh. Kotoko wanted something new. She was sick and tired of hearing about persocoms. She was one, for pete's sake. and she could say from personal experience being a persocom wasn't that great.
"Kotoko! Are you sleeping?" shouted Sumomo. She went on, not waiting to hear the reply. "Well, if you aren't, you better start stretching! It'll help wake you up!" Kotoko opened her eyes and glared. "Sumomo," she said evenly. "Please do us all a favor and turn yourself off. NOW."
Sumomo just grabbed Kotoko's arm. "Come on," she said. "It's fun. You'll like exercising." Kotoko didn't pay attention. Instead, she watched Hideki creep across the floor towards his backpack out of the corner of her eye. She sympathized. Living with sumomo was living with a hyperactive ADD schizoid. And the last thing anyone needed was to get up at 6:45 every morning and raise their arms and legs like a child's toy robot Kotoko had once seen on one of the rare occasions when her former master took her out. She remembered being fascinated by the doll. That was what people thought persocoms would be like? There was absolutely no comparison.
"Okay!" Yelled Sumomo, bringing kotoko back to reality. "Lets all stand on one leg for ten seconds! Come on, Kotoko, join in!" Kotoko frowned. What was it about Sumomo that knew how to drive someone up the wall but at the same time, make them feel like they were doing something worthwhile? She didn't get it. A bunch of stretches were nothing important.
Kotoko merely complied to keep Sumomo from nagging her anymore.
"Well," said Hideki suddenly. "I'm off. Come on, Chii, or you'll be late." Wrong choice of words. "Late?" cried Sumomo. "Chii must not be late! I will assist you!" And before you knew it, Sumomo was tearing around, grabbing chii's shoes and dragging them, one at a time, across the floor.
"Here you are, Chii-san!" Cried Sumomo, before running off to make sure the curtains were open to let in the light and that the door was unlocked.
'She really is a convenience model,' thought Kotoko. Sumomo was a persocom designed to make other people's life easier. she was programed to remember important dates and times, help with small tasks, and be easy to transfer. Kotoko herself was a tech model. She was designed for browsing the web, creating computer graphics, making phone calls, and assisting in computer or technical work, such as repairing household items. That came in handy, living with Sumomo.
Kotoko sat down again, and looked out the window. the day was dull and cloudy, the sun barely peeking through the clouds. it matched Kotoko's mood.
As a persocom, she was able to feel. But it wasn't the same as being alive. Kotoko couldn't physically feel things, like chii could. well, kotoko could feel water and extreme heat or cold. Which wasn't much fun. Who needed feeling, in those cases? Sumomo herself could only feel a few things. Kotoko idly wondered what life would be like as a human. Probably harder, having to breathe all the time, and not being able to instantly check things online.
"Kotoko?" asked a timid voice. Kotoko's eyelids snapped open in irritation. "What?" she growled. "I just wanted to see if you were okay," said Sumomo. "Kotoko looks sad." "I'm fine," said Kotoko, without much conviction.
"well," said Sumomo. "If you want, we can go online and play games! Yay, games!" Kotoko looked at her. How could anyone feel so happy so easily? It was more than just programming. There was something different about it.
"Actually," said Kotoko. "I preferr to go on live chat boards and talk about education and such." "Then that's what we'll do!" cried Sumomo.
"Why are you so willing to do what I want to do?" asked Kotoko. "Because, we're friends!" cried Sumomo. Kotoko was taken aback. she'd never had a friend. Ever. People thought she was mean, because her programming didn't allow her to lie. "You don't think I'm mean?" she asked.
"Of course not!" said Sumomo. She grinned with feeling, and grabbed Kotoko's hand. "Come on!"
And this time, Kotoko was willing.