Couldn't come up with anything else, just had that writing itch.


9S barged into the empty room that was reserved for him and 2B at the Resistance Camp.

"Pod! Scan the area for roses!"

"Affirmative." Pod 153 replied and after a couple of seconds, said:

"Analysis complete. Locations marked on map."

"Thanks!" 9S said. He opened up his map and checked the markings that had appeared.

"I have added additional information in the event that you were looking for different kinds of roses." 153 noted.

"Neat, now I know where to find red ones, white ones, all the different colours I need." 9S said happily. As he started to mentally map out a quick and efficient route to collect the flowers, 153 asked:

"Query: for what purpose does unit 9S look for these particular botanical specimens?"

"Um... well..." 9S stammered, a bit flustered.

"So, I was reading the other day. Some leftover data from the old world, y'know? And, apparently, humans had some sort of ritual, specifically involving roses."

"Affirmative. I recall how unit 9S spent several hours of his day studying this and similar topics."

"And then Command got really pissed off because I was 'slacking off', exactly." 9S confirmed.

"Anyway, humans seemed to think it was somehow special to give a rose to a person you... care about." He said, after pausing for a moment.

"Query: does unit 9S therefore require these items to present them to unit 2B?"

"Y-yeah, to uh... teach her... about this stuff. I guess." 9S mumbled, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Affirmative. Spreading knowledge about humanity may boost morale, and thus increase the effectiveness of our combined efforts."

"My sentiments exactly!" 9S lied.

"Query."

"What do you want to ask?"

"Would unit 9S ever present a rose to Pod 153?" Pod asked.

"Sorry Pod, I'm afraid I only see you as a friend." 9S replied immediately.

"Affirmative. Initiating rejection protocol. I shall stand in a corner, and cry." Pod 153 replied, before hovering away to a corner, where it started to emit a high-pitched wailing sound.

Once he finally calmed Pod 153 down, 9S went outside and scoured the city ruins and the surrounding areas for all the flowers he needed. When he was done, he returned to the Resistance Camp and started making a pretty bouquet using the roses he had just gathered. Finally, after most of the work was done, he placed the final product on the table and added some finishing touches.

"I hope this works. God, I hope so..." The Scanner thought to himself.

He then went outside again, this time to look for his partner.


"Query: are you sure you want to do this?" Pod 153 asked.

"Absolutely!" 9S hissed. "Quiet now, here she comes."

2B slowly approached 9S while cleaning her sword.

"Hey 2B!" 9S said.

"Hi." 2B muttered, not taking her eyes off of her sword.

"Did you find what the weaponsmith needed?" 9S asked.

"Eventually." 2B replied as she continued to rub a piece of cloth on her weapon.

"Did you... have to, like... fight a big machine while you were on your way?" 9S continued, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Multiple." 2B answered.

An awkward silence ensued.

9S cleared his throat.

"Okay, so uh..." He started. 2B finally looked up.

"I kinda wanted to show you something, 2B." 9S sheepishly stated.

"What would that be?" 2B asked.

"Well, I don't have it with me right now. I need you to come back with me to the Resistance Camp."

2B remained quiet for a moment, before asking: "Is this something that is important to our mission in any way? Or not?"

She knew 9S was far too curious for his own good. He often got distracted easily, which resulted in her constantly having to remind him of their objective. Though it did make 9S who he was, and for what it was worth, she didn't really think of it as a flaw in his personality.

9S tried to avoid eye contact with her.

"Y-yes, actually."

"9S..." 2B started.

"No, I'm serious! Pod, help me out here, please!"

"Affirmative. Unit 9S has been wanting to share something with unit 2B that could be considered useful. He described it as a surprise of some sort." Pod 153 confirmed.

9S' face turned into a sort of painful grimace, thinking that 153 had given away a too much information. 2B meanwhile squinted her eyes.

"So it's a surprise then?" She thought to herself. The battle android did not know what to think of this situation. The usage of that specific term made her think that this might be a waste of time. But on the other hand, she had gotten a bit curious at this point. It also didn't help that she, for whatever reason, seemed to enjoy the face that 9S had taken some time out of his day to do something for her.

"Okay then 9S. I'm convinced. I'll quickly check out this surprise of yours. But after that, I'm going straight back to work." She said, finally.

"Awesome!" 9S said. "Let's get a move on then!"


The two androids soon arrived at the Resistance Camp. 9S approached the door to their safe room and placed his hand on the door handle.

"Ready? It's on the table." He said, trying his very best to sound natural and cool.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess." 2B said.

9S opened the door and 2B entered the room. Once she saw the bouquet of roses on the table, she knew exactly what was going on. She felt something buzzing inside her chest as she slowly approached the table and just... looked at the flowers for a moment, taking in the combination of red, pink, white and purple laid out before her.

"So... like I already told Pod, humans used to..." 9S started. 2B more or less ignored him. This information was already in her database. She understood what the gesture meant. As she feared, this was a waste of time. As 9S continued to explain himself in the background, 2B carefully reached for the bundle of flowers. The buzzing started to grow stronger. She should have felt more upset about this. She should have scolded her companion for distracting her from their mission when it wasn't necessary.

Instead, she picked up the roses and pulled them closer. She took a moment to smell the flowers: they smelled incredibly nice. The sweet scent made 2B feel very comfortable, uplifted even.

"9S!" She said, loud enough to stop 9S in the middle of his monologue.

"Uh... yeah, what is it?" 9S asked, taken aback by how his partner suddenly interrupted him.

"This... is peripheral information." 2B said. The buzzing in her chest made it hard for her to concentrate.

"Oh..." 9S muttered.

"It's not relevant. Nothing about this is really valuable information." 2B continued.

"I see." 9S said. He looked down at his feet, feeling defeated.

"But..." 2B then said.

"I don't really care." She turned around to look at her comrade, trying to come up with the words to properly express herself.

"It's beautiful. And it means a lot. Thank you... Nines." 2B said, too embarrassed to look at him directly.

9S looked up with a big smile on his face. He awkwardly chuckled.

"No problem." He eventually said, softly.

2B pressed the flowers closer to her chest. The buzzing had reached a point where it was almost audible. Then, she felt something stuck between the flowers. She took a closer look at the bouquet and noticed something hidden inside.

She reached in between the roses and pulled out a small metal box. It looked like some sort of transmitter. Then, her legs suddenly started to feel like jelly, causing 2B to crash onto the floor.

"Warning: unit 2B is infected with a logic virus. Extreme caution is advised." Pod 042 remarked. It didn't take long for 2B to put two and two together.

"9S! Did you seriously just infect me with a lethal logic virus?" She exclaimed as the buzzing started to get painful and her vision started to get glitchy.

9S' lips curled into a devious smile.

"Why yes, yes I did, 2B." He said. "I placed a little transmitter in between those roses that would automatically upload the logic virus to any YorHa unit that would hold it in his or her hands. I had to insert the unit at the very last second and never get near those flowers again in order for my plan to work. Why do you think I am still standing in the doorway?" He said.

2B started shaking on the ground.

"W-why?" She muttered, desperately trying to figure out a way for her to survive this situation.

"Why, you ask?" 9S asked. He chuckled.

"Obviously, because you ate the last mini brownie that I TOLD YOU I WAS KEEPING FOR MYSELF A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO! BUT NO, YOU JUST HAD TO GO AHEAD AND EAT MY FAVOURITE AFTERNOON SNACK BEHIND MY BACK, DIDN'T YOU!" 9S yelled.

2B chuckled as her limbs started to malfunction.

"Heh. So I guess you saw me do that, huh? And here I was, thinking I could get away with it. Motherf-" 2B tried to finish her sentence, but at that point, the logic virus had already started to completely fry her CPU. After a couple of seconds of spazzing on the floor, 2B's body ceased any and all movement.

"Analysis: black box signal lost. Unit 2B has perished." Pod 042 confirmed. Satisfied, 9S turned around.

"That's what you get." He said, before walking away and not looking back.

9S then ordered a pizza, which arrived a couple of minutes later. He then ate it, I guess. Maybe he took a nap afterwards, I can't tell you for sure.

I don't know how to end this story.

THE END


The other day, I discovered the word "flummoxed", which, according to the dictionary, means "to be utterly confused or perplexed".

I thought that was interesting.