Assignment 1,

Part 3

Chihiro woke with a start. He hadn't finished the program yet! But… this wasn't the workshop. The blinds were drawn around the windows in his room and sunlight was trying to crawl its way through, but he was sure he hadn't left them like that. His laptop, charger plugged in, was still left on the same unfinished line of code that he remembered typing last night. There was also a large cardboard box, top taped, on the desk next to the laptop, as well as a note. Chihiro rubbed his eyes, let out a stifled yawn and clambered out of his bed. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, skirt, tights and all. The note left on the desk read:

"I told you to drink that soda, man. It's off brand for a reason, no company would allow that sugar content with getting assblasted by the media. Anyway, I left the completed prototype in that box I hopefully put down and added a few notes to explain what it does, and what you need to do. And if your first instinct after reading this is to come and apologize to me for falling asleep, just… don't. And if you're wondering how you got back to your room, I was the only one in the workshop when you started to snooze. Put two and two together.

-Kazuichi"

Chihiro blushed upon reading that last line. If Kazuichi had carried him back to his room, could he have felt his..? Chihiro quickly put that thought out of his mind and opened the box. Inside was quite a large robot, almost knee height with Chihiro. Kazuichi had fully embraced the toy robot design, right down to the rectangular mouth. It had a large hinged panel on the back, labeled 'CPU AND MOTHERBOARD HERE." The panel was designed to Chihiro's specifications, just large enough to fit in the components he had ordered. A small, sliding, tray-like panel extended from the top chest of the robot, both forwards and backward. It was coated with a sticky material. Another note lay on the compartment. "I decided we'd need more than one bot if a task is too high for just a single one to complete. The bots' arms can out this tray and climb onto it the resin and acetate compound makes sure they'll be able to stick onto it and stack to complete their task, but they'll also be able to dismount on their own. And Mikan's checked, the compound won't poison ya."

Kazuichi really had thought of everything, and although it created more work for Chihiro, he found himself not really caring. He was about to sit down and get to work when he heard a hard knock at his door.

"Oh, hello Mondo."

"Hey, you're awake. I take it you read the notes your friend left you?"

"Yeah. Wait, how'd you know about those?"

"He came knocking at my door early this morning. Seemed pissed. Turns out I hadn't returned that wrench of his… Anyway, when I was about to slam the door in his face, he softened up a bit and asked me to check on you. Man, you've got lucky you got a softie like that to do your project with you."

"Mondo..."

"If you got paired with an asshole I'd make sure he'd get beat to a fucking pulp before he'd lay a finger on you."

"Mondo!"

"Jeez, that was unusually aggressive. Whaddya want?"

"It's fine, honestly. The project's going well."

"You sure? The ass beating's still on the table."

"Seriously, cut it out! It's fine!"

"Tch. Better than how it's going for me, at least. I and that little yakuza shit haven't talked since day one."

"Well… maybe you should try talking to him?"
"Yeah, right. Well, see you around." And with that, Mondo took his leave. Chihiro sat down at his desk and began to type.

"Well, at least you guys get a whole term to just do something. God, the reserve course is just mind-numbing right now." Hajime Hinata sat, dejected, on one of the chairs Kazuichi had set up in front of the TV.

"Yeah well in my case, something just means nothing, because that biker punk thinks he can talk down to me because he's a foot taller. Who the fuck does he think he is?!" Fuyuhiko punched down on the arm of his chair, with as much force as his small body could muster.

"...I called you both here so we could watch a movie, not have a group therapy session..." Kazuichi was glad to have some time to unwind, especially after what he did last night. When he thought about carrying the frail form of his assignment partner back to her room, his mouth began to feel dry and coarse, and sweat began to bead on his forehead. He could put down this, and his pounding heartbeat, down to the anxiety he felt when thinking if Miss Sonia would have seen him. What would she have thought? That thought nearly caused a migraine whenever it popped into his head. Yeah, he definitely needed some time to relax, something to keep himself occupied. Without realizing it, he had produced odds and ends from his pockets and had begun to fidget with them, his fingers twirling around cables and stringing small wires together. He quickly jammed them back in his pockets and cleared his throat. "Well, I invited you both here so we could watch bad movies, and we've not done that yet. Let's get started, okay?"

"Whatever you say."

Hajime and Fuyuhiko left just as the winter sun began to set. They had watched some pretty garbage films, but it was an enjoyable experience. They laughed, sighed and shared stories. And by stories, it was mostly just Hajime complaining about how-how much he regretted every single life decision he had ever made and forced his parents to make since he crawled out the womb, leading him to question whether a vasectomy would save his future and Kazuichi skirting around the topic of Chihiro whenever it came up. Kazuichi popped open a can of soda and stared into the mellow orange circle beginning to fall slowly beneath the now dark trees (hardly trees, more sticks) and sighed a sigh of deep content. Just hanging out with his two good friends had made him feel at ease. So when he heard a small knock on the door he knew his tranquil moment was about to be shattered.

"Kazuichi! I did it, it's complete!" Chihiro had a beaming smile on her face and was sweating bullets trying to carry around the cardboard box that contained the robot. Kazuichi lifted the box from her dainty arms and slowly put it down on his floor. He lifted the toy-like machine from the box and set it down on the floor. Chihiro crouched down and put her clenched fists to her cheeks, mouth bent into a small 'U' and eyes bright. "The machine learning AI should increase its proficiency at performing tasks, but I've already programmed a routine schedule that can perform most household tasks, except things like vacuuming, 'cause it's too short for just one bot. Turn it on and put a plate in front of it, it should determine what to do with it." Chihiro explained the ins-and-outs of what his program did and Kazuichi grabbed an unclean plate from his desk. It was what remained of his spaghetti, the rest of which he could only assume would find its way into his pockets to fall out at a later time. Maybe in front of Miss Sonia.

"Well, here goes." Kazuichi pressed down on a button and watched as the machine sprung to life. He watched at the lenses that formed its eyes adjusted and it began to make whirring noises and Kazuichi held the plate in front of the robot's eyes and almost immediately, the robot used it's 1984-bionic-esque arms to grab the plate and made its way to the counters lining the west perimeter of the room and began to try and reach the sink. "It's, uh… stuck." Chihiro observed.

"I noticed." Kazuichi picked up the robot and put it on the countertop, where it continued its path to the sink. It proceeded to turn on tap, pick up a sponge and wash the plate. It then proceeded to survey the rest of the room, saw there was no other task to complete and shut down.

"Well, it wasn't the flashiest thing ever, but it worked! Hey, that's pretty good for two days' work. Imagine what we could do with the rest of term! Hell, we could probably turn these things from housemaids to a workforce given the time!" Kazuichi was just happy his work had paid off.

"Yeah! Now I've got the basic outline and skeleton for my code, I can easily replicate the AI, I'll get on ordering more CPUs and motherboards. Thinking about it, this could be a huge market. The elderly and disabled could really use technology like this, and if we hold a monopoly on it we can make sure it can reach them easily and cheaply! It kinda seemed like innocuous tech at first... but this could be something big!" And upon saying that, Chihiro wrapped his arms around Kazuichi's waist and pulled him in for a hug.

Kazuichi nearly screamed, and that odd feeling set in again. His ears felt red hot, and he could feel the rush of blood to his cheeks. His mouth felt like a desert and… was that his heart? He could hear it beating like a drum. What would Miss Sonia think of this? Chihiro pulled away and looked at Kazuichi, clearly flustered. "Um, are you okay Kazuichi? You look kinda pale."

"Y- yeah. I-I'm fine!"

"It's kinda funny when I first saw you, I thought you'd be like a… what's the word? Ummm… a tough guy? But you're kinda soft. N-not that that's a bad thing! It's actually nice and, uh-"

"Yeah, yeah. I get that a lot. I'm not that willing to explain it… but what I can say is that this whole delinquent thing… It's just a facade. An act, and honestly… I-I dunno why I keep it up anymore. I guess it's just a part of me." Kazuichi once again gazed into the sun, only a tiny part of it now visible, slightly cooling the air. "Gah, what am I doing? You just hugged me and talked philanthropy and I just dumped a bunch of my problems onto you. What you even know about putting on an act for your whole life? I understand if you wanna go now, heh..." Kazuichi ended his whole spiel with a weak laugh and heavy sigh.

Chihiro shut the door quietly behind him. He knew Kazuichi didn't want him there. But what he said… that whole thing about putting on an act, about being someone else… it resonated with him. Once again that fire was lit within him, he really wanted to walk back in that room and admit his secret, ask Kazuichi for help with his predicament… but he couldn't. He punched the wall just next to the door and recoiled at how much he hurt his knuckles. Why did that have to hurt so much? Why was he so weak? Once again he felt that self-loathing creep up his body and take hold. He felt the magma-hot tears once again fall down his face and those ugly, stilted gasps escape his mouth.

"...Did I say something wrong?" Chihiro hadn't heard the door opening behind him over his hiccuping. Kazuichi looked slightly worried and guilty, probably wondering if he had made Chihiro cry.

"N-No… i-it's just… *hic* could I come into y-your r-room? There's something I've b-been meaning to t-t-tell you." Kazuichi looked flustered again at this request.

"Ummm… okay then…" He gestured to Chihiro to enter again.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about, exactly?" Kazuichi couldn't shake the pit in his stomach. "I-I uh… there's not really an easy way to say this..." Chihiro was suddenly interested in everything else in the room but Kazuichi.

"Look, just say it."

"Look, I don't know how you'll react to this… but I think I can trust you..."

"Just say it, dammit!"

"I-I'm a boy!" Chihiro had his eyes shut as if he was expecting to be backhanded.

"C-come again?!" Kazuichi was worried the look of shock and agape mouth may slightly hurt he- him. It- it was him.

"I'm a guy!"

"What the hell?! Are you sure?! Like, one hundred percent?!" Kazuichi tried to downplay his shock but it was… unsuccessful to say the least.

Chihiro let out a sigh and felt tears at the corners of the eyes, like pinpricks. "I guess I was wrong… S-sorry. I shouldn't have told you that, huh?" Kazuichi was silent, just absorbing the information he had been hit with. It was like a brick – or something greater than that. A truck. A plane. Hulk Hogan in full Nazi uniform elbow smashing him in the groin from 400 feet – that sort of thing. He didn't know why it hit him so hard, it just kind of… did. And a guy looking that cute? No way. It just wasn't possible. Chihiro let out a deep sigh and turned to leave. This was enough for Kazuichi to close his mouth (was it really open for that long?) and yell out a question: "H-hey! Why'd you tell me that? There's gotta be a reason, right?" Chihiro breathed in, his inhale sharp and shaky.

"It's just… when you were working you looked so… masculine. Like everything I want to be but can't. When you mentioned that you were putting on an act and said I wouldn't understand I did… and I just wanted to tell you… I thought- I thought you could help!"

"…Help?"

"I mean… Mondo trains me… but it hurts a lot and even though I'm getting used to it… I want more opportunities to become stronger…"

Kazuichi felt guilty. He felt like an idiot for reacting that way and making Chihiro feel more insecure and useless than he already did. And… there could be merit in helping him. What that merit was he wasn't too sure about, but he felt the inclination to nonetheless. "I'll think about it."

"R-really?!" Chihiro's face lit up immediately. And he pulled Kazuichi in for another hug and made muffled happy noises. Kazuichi went stark red. Surely there are divine laws preventing males from being this cute, he thought. Those muffled happy noises really did a number on his masculinity. "O-okay, but please, no more hugs. And… let's focus on the project first, okay?"

"Sure!" Chihiro's hands fell by his side and he skipped happily out the door. Kazuichi clutched his head and lay down on his bed. The more he tried to put the events of that day out of his mind the more he just… couldn't. He tried focusing on the image of Miss Sonia he kept in his mind at all times but it seemed to be covered in static at this point. God, what was that damn interference all about? And Chihiro… a dude. And he and Mondo were the only ones who knew. Ugh, could he be trusted to keep this? It was a matter of could, he decided. He'd have too. He felt guilty thinking about revealing it. Ugh, what would Miss Sonia think of this? Why did he have to go through with this project?

Kazuichi opened up the door to the workshop, deciding he just had to take his mind off everything. He fiddled with odds and ends, listened to the radio in the room and yet he still couldn't take his mind off the day. It had affected him in ways he didn't like, or want to accept. The more he thought about everything (well, one thing) the more he knew he had to channel this frustration into productiveness. And so he got to work. Time to blow that prototype out of the water he thought, For himself, no-one else, of course.

Chihiro felt amazing. Someone else knew his secret. Someone else knew his secret! And they accepted it! Well, not at first, but that didn't matter! He hadn't felt this good since Mondo agreed to train him. He wanted to wrap his arms around himself and just hug himself. But there was work to be done, and he was gonna do it! Kazuichi was now someone he could trust, someone who made him happy, and he was gonna make him proud. He felt electricity running through his body as he sat down at his computer. But the more he thought about it, the more it confused him. Why did he do that so quickly? He only really knew Kazuichi a couple of days, so why did he so openly trust him? It was something to do with the technology, he thought. Mondo never knew that much about programming, and he normally just shut Chihiro down when he tried to talk about it. But Kazuichi sat down by his side for a while and just watched, entranced. That was the difference, he supposed. Kazuichi was someone who really appreciated technology and being around it. He'd even tried to take his computer apart, which was… kinda cute actually. Well, sitting around doing nothing (except… was he blushing?) wouldn't help his friend out. He drew the blinds, flipped the lights, opened up the laptop, and got to work.

Kazuichi was absorbed in his work, as a man possessed. He managed to get three robots finished by the time the sun began to rise, each more quality than the other. More capacity for machine learning, a tighter response on the bionics, greater grip strength, better balance… Yeah, these were things he could be proud of. He rubbed his eyes, smacked his lips and yawned. He would probably sleep like a rock. Two days mostly without sleep could not be good for the constitution. Two days, he thought. That's how long it took to gain enough trust from Chihiro, enough so he could reveal his secret. He must be a pretty stand-up guy, in that kid's eyes. And, as he thought that, he collapsed. Yeah, not good for the constitution.