Author's note 2: So, I've been writing more recently, mainly due to all the positive feedback, and so the chapters will be getting longer! Also, I really want to thank everyone who left a review! I know it sounds cliche, but it means a lot when you say that you enjoy reading it, or that you're looking forward to the next parts. Everyone says it all the time, because it really is true. So thanks to all of you who left a review, you've directly helped me write more for this story. So thanks again, and I hope you keep enjoying it!

"Hey Euan, you in?"

Suddenly, I realise who it is, and my heart stops threatening to explode out of me like a chestburster. Mai was here. Although we had wildly different interests, and she was in her last year, we were still good friends. However, I don't want her to find out about Monika yet. It felt better to keep her a secret. I could imagine the shitshow that would go down if it was revealed to the world I had a real, functioning AI on my computer. Almost certainly, Monika would be taken away from me, and I'd never see her again. I couldn't let that happen. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her. Plus, it would be pretty difficult to try and explain to her, let alone the government, why I had a relationship with a fictional character. Monika and I look at each other. I quickly switch to a different window, and turn off the screen.

Luckily, Mai and I never entered each other's rooms without knocking first. I remember, during our first month together I had entered her room, whilst looking for a phone charger, and seen her wearing a black, skimpy bunny suit. We had agreed from that point to never walk in on each other, or to ever talk about the event in question, but the memory still made me laugh a little inside.

"You Euan, you alive in there?"

"Hey Mai. Come in if you want, I'm just tidying up." This was half true, as my room was a tip, like always.

She opened the door and walked in. "Not doing a very good job, are you?" She said, looking with a raised eyebrow at the detritus littering my living space.

"Hey, it's the thought that counts." I sit down on my bed "Where've you been this whole time?"

"Well.. I was, uh, away."

"At your boyfriend's?" I asked with a knowing smile.

"So what if I was?" she stammered. She always got a little flustered when her boyfriend was brought up.

"You need to get a hobby other than hanging out with him."

"Says the guy who does nothing but sit in his room playing video games all day."

"Hey, I go out... occasionally."

"To do what? Go and play videogames with your friends?"

"Not always! I do other stuff!"

"Like what? Let me guess, now you're gonna tell me you've been out with someone."

I'm about to deny it, before I stop myself "Well I… No, but… I have met someone. Who I… like."

"Wait up, hold the damn phone! You met someone, really? You said that you thought you'd never be able to go out with a girl. So, Mr Single finally meets the right one! Who is it? You have to tell me everything!" She sat down at my desk, and swivelled my chair round to grin at me.

"Well...It's a girl I met a few days ago. We're going on our first date tomorrow actually. She's called Monika. I'm actually her first boyfriend too. I feel pretty lucky actually. She's way out of my league."

"And where did you meet? Come on, I need details!"

"I'm concerned with how into this you're getting. It feels like you're a bit obsessed with relationships."

"Well, why wouldn't I be? Two people, having never met that one person before, finally join together, and experience an entirely new emotion! They get to have a happiness that was never in their lives before, the best feeling ever. It just makes me feel good about the world, you know? That two people meet each other, and can experience so much happiness because of it."

"That's… actually a really nice way of putting it. Well anyway, we met online, just a few days ago."

"I hope this isn't just some evil people trying to kidnap you."

"You really think I'm the sort of person someone would kidnap? I probably wouldn't be worth very much anyway, so I'm not really worth the trouble."

"Oh shut up with that talk. Believe me, if I were a kidnapper, I'd take you in an instant."

"Uh… Thanks, I think?"

"Hey, if you weren't worth anything, do you think this girl would want to go on a date with you? Lighten up a bit!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

"Well, good luck with your date then!" She says, standing up, and leaving. "Also, make sure you wear something nice. I want you to finally get with someone. Make sure you have a shower, and you brush your teeth. You don't want to smell when you turn up."

"God, you're like my mother."

"I'm just trying to help you out! I want it to go well. And by the way, you have to introduce me to her soon."

"Maybe, I guess. Thanks Mai."

As she leaves, she closes the door behind her. I turn my computer screen on again, to see Monika looking at me, pouting.

"Don't do that! You scared me there!" she half-whispers, half-shouts, sounding annoyed.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want her to find out about you. That would be a big problem."

"I suppose… but you at least could have warned me!"

"Okay, I'm sorry. I wasn't really thinking straight, I was in such a rush."

My stomach rumbles loudly. I realise that I missed breakfast, having woke up so late.

"Tell you what, I'm gonna go make some dinner. You want anything?" I smirk as I leave

"Hey! That's not fair!" Monika shouts after me.

My cooking skills are nothing special, so I just make some pasta with cheese and go back to my room. Besides, the less time I spend cooking, the longer I can spend with Monika.

Monika looks at me as I walk in, a bowl in my hands.

"You know what Euan, I can't wait. You have to tell me - what are we doing tomorrow?"

"Well..." I hesitate. Do I want to tell her, or keep it a surprise? Then I look at her face. Dammit, I can't resist those Bambi eyes of hers. "Okay. Well, first we're gonna go to a bookstore. I thought, you know, since you're part of the literature club, you'd probably like it. Although it's okay if you don't… we can go somewhere else. And then, we're gonna have a picnic dinner in the park near here. And after that, we're just gonna sit and watch the stars for a bit, and talk. Like I said though, if you don't like the sound of i-"

"Hey."

I look round at her. She's smiling, and her eyes are shining with their trademark green glow.

"That sounds lovely. Every bit of it. I'm really looking forward to it. I don't want you to change a thing."

She puts her hand against the screen, and I copy her. It's the closest thing to an intimate moment we can have.

"So, how are you gonna carry me around? It'd be pretty difficult to carry a laptop everywhere with you, let alone an entire computer like this one."

"Well, I thought about that. And then, I came up with this." And I take out my phone.

"Wait, are you gonna put me in that?"

"Well yeah! It's the only way you can really be mobile. Sorry for the pun."

"But how? I mean, It's not like you can just dump me in, can you?"

"Well, that's exactly how it is. I just do this."

I plug my phone's cable into the computer, and choose to move Monika's character file. I realise now, that the size for the file doesn't have a value. The spot where it would normally show how large it is is empty. Weird.

"Wait!" Monika shouts before I do anything

"Shhhh! We can't let Mai hear you!" I look nervously at the door, but it appears she didn't hear anything

"I'm sorry but… are you sure this is gonna be okay? I mean, what if that isn't strong enough to hold me? Or it doesn't have enough space?"

"Well… I didn't really think about it like that. Maybe you're right. I just wanted a way to make you able to move around with me. I guess I'm just not too great at this, heh."

"Hey, it's alright. I was just being a bit paranoid, I suppose. If you thought of it, then I trust you."

"Are you sure? But what if it goes wrong? What if something happens and you get hurt or something?"

"It's okay dear. If you're doing it, then I know it'll be okay. I feel safe with around you."

This time, I blush at Monika's words "Well…. Thanks Monika. If you're sure then… here goes."

I move Monika's folder into my phone's dropbox… and…

Nothing happens.

"Well. That was anticlimactic." Monika says. I laugh. Suddenly, a textbox appears on the screen of my computer.

"Moving files to "Euan's phone". Estimated time remaining - 8.7 hours."

"Oh. Well, I suppose that's to be expected, considering how complicated you are."

"Well, why don't you go to bed while you wait? I want to make sure our date tomorrow is as perfect as possible, and I don't want you missing anything because you were too tired."

"Yeah, okay. I dunno, I'm still kinda active with all that's been happening recently."

As I lie in bed, I turn furtively. My mind is too active with what's been going on recently to sleep, and excitement about tomorrow. I sit up.

"It's no use. I can't get to sleep right now." I whisper to Monika. I don't want to risk alerting Mai.

"Do you want some help?" Monika asked, smiling

"Well, what do you have?"

"Would you like a bedtime story?"

"No, it's fine. But a lullaby might be nice"

And she sings that song I've loved since I heard it for the first time, which keeps filling me with emotion every time I hear it. She sings it more slowly than the original though. Like, well, a lullaby.

"Every day, I imagine a future where I can be with you."

I can even hear the piano in the background.

"In my hand, is a pen that will write a story of me and you."

Her voice is soothing. Within the first verse, I feel myself dropping off.

"Have I found, everybody a fun assignment to do today?"

I'm almost gone now. I sing along with my mind to the last few lines.

"And in your reality, if I don't know how to love you….I'll leave you be."