November 24th, 2054
1:35 PM
It was extremely cold outside. Shota was thankful that he had thought to pack up warm as temperatures seemed to lower throughout the day. He was also thankful that Nemuri had said they could meet up in a tea shop that had warm yet not unbearable heating. She knew him best after all.
It had almost been ten minutes he had been sitting with his tea when he heard the clacking of her boots enter through the door.
"Heh. Earl Grey. Why am I not surprised?" she asked, walking up to him to ruffle his hair. He made a noise of protest but did not make a move to stop her. Hearing his friend's voice after weeks was definitely something he needed.
"You know me, I can only get one kind of tea around here." he responded, receiving a short smile back as she sat down across from him.
He took in her appearance. Her hair was pulled up in a long ponytail (as it had been since Year 3) and she was wearing a long parka. A pair of glasses rested on her face as she looked at the small menu on the table. A waitress came by quickly and took her order (chamomile tea with a chocolate muffin) and walked away after writing it down.
Shota looked amused at Nemuri. "You know for someone to make fun of my choice of tea, it's interesting you get the same thing every time we meet up." he smirked. Nemuri looked at him, "it's not every time, don't exaggerate, Shota." she rolled her eyes and thanked the waitress once she came back with her order. Nemuri took a small bite into the warm muffin and lifted her tea to her lips. Shota grabbed his tea, taking a small sip. "I don't drink tea that is supposed to help me sleep in the middle of the afternoon." he said, cocking his eyebrow. Nemuri only snorted, and continued on her muffin.
Shota was fond of the friendship he and Nemuri had. He was not one to talk to others when he was in school, seeing as he was more interested in his home life and schoolwork. But one day Nemuri had walked up, a boy with blonde hair trailing behind her, smiling her biggest smile and said, 'Name is Nemuri, and this here is Toshinori. You look lonely, let's be friends!.' and for unknown reasons Shota agreed (although it took some time for him to come around.)
Nemuri was eccentric in her own way. She was so intelligent and well advanced in her classes. He even got some good tips on how certain schoolwork was to be done from her when he was having a difficult time. He has to admit that he was very bad at trying to push her away when things got bad, but she would always come back. Shota saw himself as very lucky when it came to her.
It was different for him and Toshinori to hit it off. They were completely different sides of the same coin. He was so charismatic and charming, and always had a smile on his face. Shota could still remember the days where he would bust into the doors of the school shouting 'I am here!' for everyone to see. He loved the attention, and would be the 'knight in shining armor' for several people.
That is, until he got sick.
Suddenly Toshinori was...not the same. To outsiders he still looked the same, and did his same usual routine, but Shota knew better. The smiles he wore were faked so much that it looked painful sometimes. His shouts started to get quieter. His exclamations of excitement started to dwindle. That is when Shota started actually talking to him more one-on-one instead of only when Nemuri was around.
Toshinori didn't like talking to anyone about his sickness. It made him feel weak. One day, he started sobbing into the school shirt of Shota's, whimpering into his chest that he was scared. Shota was the first to know about his cancer diagnosis outside of immediate family. That in itself made Shota feel special that someone could rely on him with such personal information. He confided his own issues with him as well, and they found trust in one another.
Thinking about his friend put a sad smile on his face. Nemuri immediately noticed, and frowned, "something up?" she asked, putting what remained of her muffin down. Shota looked at her, and waved his hand dismissively. "Nah. Nothing really. Thinking of Toshi, is all. Haven't heard from him in a while." he said. Nemuri hummed, agreeing. "Last I heard from him he was in America getting some sort of treatment done that can't be done here." she said. Shota nodded, absentmindedly running his finger over the mug. He looked out the window, casually people-watching while thoughts ran over Toshi.
Nemuri broke the silence after several moments, and Shota looked at her napkin that once held her muffin. "You called me to talk about...him, right?" she said, looking around to make sure no one was listening in. Shota nodded, "yeah, you're right. I have some questions that maybe you can answer."
Nemuri leaned in, "Spill." Shota exhaled, and went on to explain what happened just a few days prior with Nezu and spiky-guy.
After hearing of the situation, she picked up her tea and took a larger-than-normal gulp and set it down. "Alright," she started "so you're wanting to know what spicy info I have to help you with the activation." Shota hummed. Nemuri smiled, "I have a few little tidbits you might find come in handy for you, but you have to keep it under wraps." she said, looking at him in the eye. Shota looked, deadpan, "I work in business, keeping things under wraps is my specialty."
Nemuri grinned, and started talking.
November 25th, 2054
9:34 AM
bzzzzzz-
Shota's side pocket buzzed, startling him out of the conversation he was listening to. He saw as his boss looked at him disapprovingly, and he slouched slightly in his chair. He grabbed his phone from his pocket, and saw it lit up with a message.
Unknown: Hey man, Hizashi here. Nezu's assistant? I hope you remember me ;) I am asking for an update on the two week thing you and him agreed to?
Shota read the lines once, typed a quick response, and quickly saved the number in his phone.
As of right now, yes. If there are any complications I will let you know.
Spiky Hair: Sweet man, looking forward to hearing from you! ^_^
He quickly put his phone away and got back to focusing on the meeting he was having with his coworkers. His eyes scanned over the individuals in the room, pausing momentarily on the tall brooding man in the corner chair.
His arms were crossed across his chest (as per usual) and his voice was booming in the small room as he made a remark on something their boss had said. He was tall, intimidating, (and an asshole, but Shota kept that to himself.) He didn't want to, but at this point he really had no choice but to talk to the guy. It was now or never.
What felt like more than an hour was only a few short minutes and his boss dismissed them. He jumped back to reality as all his coworkers started to get up and walk out of the room. He stood up, and waited for everyone to file out until the brooding man was the only one left in the room.
Shota cleared his throat before he had a chance to leave, and the tall man turned around, a scowl on his face. He straightened up as he gave direct eye contact to him.
"Enji." he started, being careful with his wording. "I need some information on how your android works."
Enji paused, a short chuckle escaping his mouth. "Which one? I have four of them." he said, as if it was something to be proud of. Shota stopped the urge to roll his eyes. This guy was so egotistical when it came to his wealth, and he hated it.
"Doesn't matter," Shota said, "Any of them, really. I was...planning on buying one."
A complete lie, but he wasn't about to say 'yeah I'm secretly making an android of my own and want to make sure the programming is pretty close to TechEasy's so I don't get caught red-handed.' He hardly knew Enji, and didn't care to know him in the slightest. He just needed information, and that was all he was going to get.
Enji looked annoyed just by being interrupted from his work, but he complied and responded. "It depends on which one." he said, "all of them have different jobs, and act pretty much the same."
Shota swallowed a retort that threatened to come out and said, "I would like to know about all of them, if you have time."
Enji rolled his eyes and sighed, and ran a hand across his mustache. "Lunch in six minutes at the place down on. I'm giving you five minutes and then I'm done talking with you."
Shota downright hated this man so much, but he had to comply. Nemuri said this was her only lead. "Deal. See you in six."
::::
When Shota walked into the break room, he wasn't surprised that many others had scooted away from Enji. It was well known that Enji wasn't liked by a lot of people, but he was intelligent in the line of work he did, so they dealt with it (albeit not quietly).
Shota walked over and took the seat across from Enji, watching as his peers turned in surprise. He ignored them, and set his lunch down on the table. Once everything was settled, he took a bite of the food nestled inside and drank a sip of water before speaking. "I'm ready whenever you are." he said.
Enji looked up from the food sat in front of him and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Since you're so persistent." he groaned, sitting up slightly. Shota put his hands together on the table, awaiting his explanation.
"I have four androids in my home." Enji started. "All of them have a timeline they follow every day. All of them need to be done with the job they have by the time I get home."
"And if not?" Shota asked. Enji huffed. "Then they are to go into stasis until the next morning so one of the other three finishes the task." Shota had a funny suspicion that Enji was lying (and he thought he actually did direct harm to them since he was an asshole), but didn't voice it.
"Mind telling me what exactly the tasks entail? Normal house work, or-"
"They do what I tell them to do." Enji interrupted. Shota waited to respond since what he wanted to say was not professional. "But since you want to purchase an android, what are you wanting yours to do?" Enji asked.
Shota sat stunned in silence for a moment, not expecting the question. He shuffled in his seat, and responded, "Paperwork...and other things."
"Hm." Enji said, "I'm sure TechEasy could help you more with this, which leads me to ask." He leaned in, getting in close to Shota's personal space. "Why ask me when you could call up to TechEasy, and ask someone there?"
Shota had a feeling that this would happen, and answered quickly. "I would have preferred someone that had one already and had formed a personal opinion, not something a worker is told to say to me."
Enji suddenly furrowed his brows, and looked down. "I told you all you need to know. Now go buy one or don't, I don't care either way." Enji spoke. Shota went to say that only three minutes had passed, but Enji pointed up around Shota, enforcing the dismissal further. Without speaking another word, Shota stood up from his seat, ignoring the onlookers staring at him.
He grabbed what was left of his meal to move to another seat far away from Enji.
He would have to try another method to get more information. The question was...how?
::::
The answer showed up hours later, when he was walking home.
He passed by a bar on his way, and he always liked to look into it to see the crazies that would be loitering around. Maybe he'd see someone get punched, or someone asleep on the ground-
What he didn't expect was to see none other than Enji Todoroki himself, drinking on a glass of scotch like it was water.
Shota paused in his walking, taking in the thought of 'if I walked in there while he was not completely sober he would tell me about his last android purchase like Nemuri said he would-'
Before he was able to finish his thought, he found himself walking into the dingy old bar surrounded by familiars that he had seen passing prior that evening.
Shota eventually stood next to the sitting man, watching his glazed eyes scan over to him before squinting.
"Of course." Enji sneered. "I can't get one moments rest without you bothering me."
Shota then answered, "-out of the two times I asked to speak to you ever, you choose now to make an exaggeration of it?"
Enji looked, and then shrugged, downing the rest of his drink. He called for the bartender behind the counter, who looked irritated already at being interrupted at his cleaning of the glasses. He quickly made another glass of scotch, the veins in his forehead prominent. Before he had the chance to walk away however, Shota asked for a cup of whiskey, to which the bartender rolled his eyes but did as asked anyways.
Shota sat down at the empty seat next to Enji, taking a sip of the half full glass.
"I wanted to ask more earlier but you wouldn't let me get another word in." Shota said, running a finger over the rim of the glass. He side-eyed over to Enji, who hadn't moved. Enji then hummed, taking a large gulp of his scotch. "-don't need to. I don't like you."
"What did I do to make you not like me? Shota asked, interested in his answer. "No reason. You just piss me off. That's all I need to see." Enji said. Shota sighed, and lifted his glass for another small gulp of the liquid.
Several minutes passed in uncomfortable silence, and Enji once again asked for his now third glass of scotch. Shota looked and saw a slight pink hue forming on his cheeks; he was no longer sober. Tipsy, at most.
Shota took this opportunity to bring up another subject. "Wouldn't your family be wondering where you are?" he questioned. "I'm pretty sure your wife-"
"She doesn't know." Enji spoke low, like he was deep in thought. "She doesn't know anything anymore."
It seemed like Enji was speaking to himself now, muttering obscene things under his breath about 'loss of memory' and 'behavioral issues'. Shota continued, "What do you mean? Like she doesn't know you drink out here or-"
Enji turned quickly, making the glass on the table jolt. "She doesn't remember anything." he said, the alcohol prominent on his breath. "She has Touya at home anyways; she's fine."
Shota stared and then breathed out. "...Who's Touya? Your son?"
Enji stopped, turning back to his drink, nursing it quietly. After seconds of silence (what felt like minutes) he uttered out, "I don't have kids."
Shota took his next words carefully. "...How come? Did your wife not want any?" Enji shook his head, and then leaned back in his seat. He looked around the small space silently, making sure no one seemed to be listening in, took a small sip of his drink, and cleared his throat.
"Not that it is any of your business, but there is a reason that I have four of them. Androids." Enji responded. "What I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this room, or this area or I will hunt you down and hang you on the flagpole by your jacket." Shota nodded, and Enji started explaining.
"When me and my wife were younger, we wanted kids. Maybe two or three at least." Enji's face fell slightly. "Unfortunately, my wife Rei found out she couldn't have kids." he said. "We looked into adoption at first, thinking that maybe that would work, but things just got worse." he paused, looking down at the table. "She got sick maybe a year after finding out. I couldn't take care of her because of work, and she needed the help. So I got Touya." he looked back up. Shota felt stuck, thinking that this was the first time that he saw direct emotion that didn't light the word 'asshole' on Enji's face.
And like it had made an appearance, the solemn emotion flew away shortly after, transforming back into his neutral, yet cold look. "After that, the man that had been tending to the garden passed away suddenly and I, nor Touya didn't have time for it. So I got Natsuo maybe six months later."
Shota kept an image in his head, imagining a sick woman with one android by the bedside, and another taking care of some plants. Shota couldn't imagine being in the situation where all he did was mess with dirt and flowers. But this was Enji Todoroki, so it didn't surprise him much.
Enji continued on, seeming not bothered by Shota's lack of response. "Bills piled up. Water, heat, electricity, you know. Usually I would keep track of it, but the numbers and the amount of paperwork I needed to do when I left work irritated the hell out of me, so I got Fuyumi to do it instead."
Enji then stopped speaking, asking the bartender for another glass while silence cut through the conversation like an unwanted guest at a party. Shota took the time to gently sip at his only cup that sat in front of him, as he had (unwillingly) taken his lunch earlier to talk to the man sat next to him which stressed him out in itself. Several minutes passed uncomfortably, and then Enji spoke up.
"Shoto is a different subject." Shota looked up startled from the response. "Rei, my wife, still wanted children." he paused, as if in thought. "I couldn't get a child, because she is sick and I would be at work all the time to take care of them, but TechEasy had the solution." he said. "They made Shoto for my wife. At first, everything was fine. The program worked fine, and Rei didn't seem to have any issues. He spoke like a normal son would to their mother. But after about a week or two of having Shoto, my wife just stared at me and said she didn't want an android as a son."
"I tried explaining to her that getting a real child wouldn't work out but she wouldn't listen to me. She just told me to 'get rid of it.' You can see why I wasn't going to do that. I just spent thousands on the damn thing." Shota nodded. Enji continued. "Eventually, I took Shoto to the side, and recalculated its program to do the chores that weren't done before I got home."
"But for the past week, when I get home, it is just outside, looking at nothing." he said. "Any time I call its name, the damn thing looks at me like.." he trailed off.
Shota questioned, "Like what?"
"Like it's looking through me. Like I'm nothing to it."
Shota stopped. Androids didn't portray emotion. It was against their protocol. They weren't designed that way, or at least that's what Aizawa had heard from the mouths of TechEasy's workers on news reports when they first came out.
Enji huffed out of laugh, "but that's impossible. The things don't feel anything. I plan to take Shoto to get analysed at TechEasy tomorrow so it doesn't happen anymore." he said. Shota hummed, taking a small gulp of his whiskey. He cleared his throat after, moving to speak, but Enji beat him to it before he had the chance. "I would like to be alone now. Leave." he said, and Shota huffed, drinking what remained of his drink and laying a few bills on the table.
Shota mentally thanked himself for being such a quick drinker, and replied quickly while cleaning the table. "You know, for someone who is an ass to everyone at work, you talk about your wife a lot. Maybe socializing with someone like a decent human being would be good for you." he said. Enji looked, face getting red, but Shota turned and walked away before he was able to respond.
Shota got all the info he needed. Now all he had to do was document it.
::::
November 25th, 2054
8:35 pm
Shota had all the items he needed. He had spoken to Nemuri about what Enji had told him, and passed by the tech store while taking the commute home.
Wires and plugs were in a box, each one labeled as the man at the store had told him. He set it down in the room, vaguely aware of the 75 percent completed android that was against the wall a few feet away from him. He grabbed two of the plugs, and moved to walk over to the still figure.
"Alright, Kiri." He said, inhaling as he reached the socket he was looking for. "Time to get to work."
::::
December 1st, 2054
3:25 pm
Shota was bored. He had finished all the files he was asked to do for the day by his boss, and was anxious to get home and continue to work on Kiri. He felt a gaze on the back of his head, and he turned slightly to see Enji glaring at him like he was the plague.
Shota sighed, and turned back in his seat. He didn't have time to talk. He had to keep writing his to-do list, which was scrawled on a sticky note hastily.
Dec List
Wire the remainder of the chassis
LED needs to work but remain hidden
Fluids need to be intact in the "veins"
Activate and give name
Give instructions and call nezu
He thought he had a pretty simple to do list once he got home. He had done a lot in the last few days, hoping to whatever deity that lived above them that it would work without any mishaps this time.
It was a wonder how he was still awake considering he was running on maybe three hours tops in the last two days. He was just thankful he was able to get his work done without any distractions.
That is, until one presented itself.
"Oi." a voice ran behind him. Shota quickly crumbled the note in his right hand so the words were illegible. He tilted his head, looking up at Enji who had gotten up from his desk to get into Shota's personal space. He hummed in question, watching Enji roll his eyes. "Have you gotten one yet?"
Shota then turned the rest of the way, making direct eye contact. "...Why do you care?" he asked.
"I have Shoto in there being tested." he said, as if that was a good enough answer to his random question. "I was seeing if you had any problems yet."
Shota paused for a moment, and then shook his head, making a lie fly out of nowhere. "Got one Sunday." he said. "Haven't had any issues, but that's probably because he's new."
"Hm." said Enji. He started backing away from the desk Shota sat at. "I'm making a complaint about Shoto." he said.
"Is it that bad?" Shota asked. Enji scoffed, doing his broody-asshole hands-across-chest move. "What do you think? Of course it is." he said. "Shoto should not be out just-" he gritted. "-just looking at nothing and not doing what it's supposed to be doing."
"I don't know…" Shota trailed, looking down and running his free hand through his hair. He spoke, not realizing he was saying his thoughts aloud. "Maybe it's a comfort for Shoto. Maybe it's how it gets into its processors is that it gets to a place where it feels comfort-"
He felt the presence of Enji loom over him suddenly and he inhaled, looking up quickly to see the sting of loathing fill his eyes.
"These...things…" he spoke in disgust, "should not be feeling anything." he gritted. Shota didn't have a response, so he nodded just to satisfy Enji. With that, Enji huffed and moved away, walking back to his desk.
'Well if that wasn't the most awkward conversation…' Shota thought, and looked back to the crumpled up sticky note in his fist.
Yeah, he had to hurry and get out of there.
::::
December 5th, 2054
8:15 am
This was it. Shota had finally completed Kiri. He stepped back, admiring the look of the android in front of him.
Kiri was covered in normal clothing now. His dark hair fanned around his head, pieces of it surrounding his face. A slight scar was above his right eye, black and deactivated like the rest of him. Ears donned on each side of his head, and nose proportionate with his eyes and mouth. His arms were dead against his sides, yet to move. Shota blinked slowly, a slight smile cracking on his lips. He inhaled and spoke softly.
"UA700, it's time to wake up."
He watched as the android's eyes opened, red peering back at him, piercing through his very being. The line against Kiri's right eye lit up yellow, signifying it was taking in information. The yellow trailed into a dark blue, almost looking black like his hair.
Shota was speechless. Kiri, young, intelligent Kiri, was perfect. His hair fell against his face, moving slightly as his head tilted to the side to look around the small room. He lifted his hands to stare at them. He blinked once-twice- and then turned to look at Shota directly.
Shota shook himself out of his reverie, and spoke again. This time, with a slight demand in his tone.
"UA700, introduce yourself."
The android then breathed in-or what looked to be breathing even though it was just in the program-and opened its mouth-
"My name is Eijirou Kirishima."
