Hakase was walking into the kitchen area, lifting a box that was larger than her actual size. Impressive as this sounds, she was visibly struggling to carry it across the room. After a few seemingly lengthened seconds, she placed the box down to where it was needed, sighing in exhaustion. A white puff cloud escaped her mouth.
Tadashi followed the pint-sized professor with another box, leaving it alongside the one that she placed. "You know," said the teenage boy, "you shouldn't have to carry things that are too much for you. You'll end up hurting yourself."
"I'm fine!", replied Hakase with an unintentionally adorable pout, "I wanna help!" She has been adamant on helping out the family since she saw them.
Laughing, Tadashi placed a hand on her head, petting her hair. "You're helping out very much," he said to Hakase. Seems like she wasn't done pouting. "Why don't you help my mom over there with arranging the books on the shelf?" Tadashi pointed over to the living room where Mrs. Fujiomi sat.
Immediately, Hakase's lost energy returned. "Hai!" She ran over to the woman as she offered her help. How could she say no?
Turning around, Tadashi saw Nano carry a familiar-looking box as she was about to approach the steps. "Ah! Nano! That's mine!", blurted Tadashi, running over to her.
"Huh? But your sister-" Nano was interrupted as Tadashi grabbed the box off of her hands and ran up the steps, all red in the face. Needless to say, she was very confused, mostly because she already knows what's in it.
"There goes my little brother again," sighing Tamiko, walking in. "He never wants anyone knowing or talking about what he keeps."
"Why not?", asked Nano.
Tamiko adjusted her glasses, "Tadashi-chan always believed that his friends and family members think that manga, anime, and ero-games are taboo. He thinks he'll be bullied again by others because of it."
Nano looked concerned, "Again? You mean he's been bullied before?"
The older sister sighed with a straight face. "Just once. But, it was enough for him to be this defensive. As soon as I heard this, I've taken action and started casually talking about what he keeps so he can learn how to defend himself."
The robot didn't take that kindly. "That's mean!", she said to the older sister.
Tamiko looked at Nano dead in the eyes. "I'm not doing this to be mean, you know. I'm trying to boost his confidence."
"Well, it's not working.", retorted Nano, angrily. She clearly knew that this was something amiss with Tadashi, even if she only knew him for not even an entire day. Sighing, she looked up at his sister. "Do you think I should talk to him about it?"
"You can, but…" paused Tamiko, "good luck trying to get any sense of him." She walked back to the moving truck to get some more boxes.
The robot was visibly sad. She felt so bad for her new neighbor, but didn't want to leave this problem go. She decided that she should go where his room was being set up and talked to him. Bravely, she trotted up the stairs.
—
Nano approached the door to Tadashi's room, sighed nervously, and knocked on the door.
A voice was heard coming from inside. "Who is it?"
"It's me", replied Nano.
The door opened, revealing a part of his room, and Tadashi himself. "Who's me?- NGH!"
SLAM.
"Wah!", recoiled a startled Nano, falling on her butt. A door slamming at her face? What's going on? She immediately got back up after hearing intense rustling from inside the room. Opening the door again, she let herself in. "Fujiomi-san, are you alrigh-"
"GAAAAH!", yelled out Tadashi while falling and spilling out the contents of the box he was once holding. Nano messed up, and she knew it.
"I-I'm so sorry, Fujiomi-san, let me help you with th-", she stopped herself mid-sentence as she realized what he spilled out. Erotic games. Lots of them. Now she understands what his sister meant about his insecurities. The robot was taken aback. She was mesmerized by all the various covers of the games, all displayed in very suggestive ways. Nano has never seen anything like this before, not to this extent. It was something that would normally be seen at Comiket, let alone all in a box. All of a sudden, she snapped back in attention when she heard Tadashi sniffling, face down.
"Why… why won't anyone let me enjoy these in peace? Why?" His voice was emotional and cracked. "Sniff. Why can't I just go on for one GODDAMN day without someone ridiculing me for owning and enjoying eroge?!" He broke down crying.
Nano couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was more shocking than seeing all the eroge spilled out on the floor. Kneeling down, she rested a hand on Tadashi's back. "Hey…", she said to him.
"Go ahead," said a muffled Tadashi, "judge me. Make fun of me all you want. Let this be your first impression of me. A nerdy, desperate, virgin LOSER. Do what you want to me, I don't think I even care anymore..."
Nano placed her hand under the poor teenage boy's chin and lifted his face up so he can see her. Tears were running down his face. She smiled at him. "Why would I judge you? It's normal for boys like you to be into these games, you know.~" She sounded so comforting.
Tadashi scoffed a little. "Yeah, but not THIS much." He rested his face back on the floor.
Still not giving up the fight, Nano sat next to him. "You know," she began, "I have a friend who once kept her drawings in secret from everyone, and she was so desperate to not let anyone know." She looked down and saw Tadashi didn't move a muscle. "She drew… boy's love stuff. Yaoi, they call it." The mere mentioning of this word caused her to flush red a little. He still didn't move. She continued on, while laughing, "Apparently, Naganohara-san had to wrestle down a police officer, her best friend, an old man, and a goat to get her drawings back."
From that, Tadashi couldn't help but be curious, lifting his head up. "Seriously?", he replied.
"Yup!", said Nano. "Eventually, she didn't keep it a secret anymore, and my two other friends and I discovered how talented of a mangaka she really is! We didn't think of her or treat her any differently than before. So, Fujiomi-san…"
"Call me Tadashi-kun.", interrupted the boy, getting up.
"R-right," replied Nano, "Fuji- I mean, Tadashi-kun, listen to me. You don't have to keep a secret so desperately hidden to others. It's not good for you, you know? Well… the secret part, not the eroge… Ahem. Don't be afraid of others judging you for what you like to do, what you have, and what you are. If they have a problem, that's on them. Not you. Okay?~"
Her voice was like music to his ears. He's been wanting to hear that for so long from someone outside his family. "Okay…", said Tadashi, with a nod. "Thanks, Shinonome-san."
Nano replied with a giggle, "Call me Nano-chan!"
Soon enough, the newfound friends cleaned up the mess made from all the spilled eroge. In what seems like a miracle, his spirits were lifted up very quickly.
Tadashi had just one more thing to ask… "Excuse me, uh… Nano-chan?"
"Yes?"
"What's that screw on your back for?"
"KYAA!~", yelped a now embarrassed robot. It doesn't look like she can follow her own advice.
—
"Work, damn you…"
A frustrated Mr. Fujiomi is attempting to get the WiFi for the house running, but he's having a hard time figuring out how it all works. Wires were strewn about, red lights were blinking from the modem and router, and the computer was signaling that no Internet connection was found. He's been at this for hours, going back and forth trying to diagnose the problem.
"I swear, I'm going to break this router in half!"
"Excuse me~", said the voice of a little girl. Turning around, Mr. Fujiomi sees Hakase standing behind, curious.
"Oh… Hello, Hakase. Don't mind me, I'm trying to get our Internet working."
The professor walks up to the current setup of their network and takes a look, with hmm's, ooh's, and ah's voicing out from her.
Chuckling, the middle-aged man got up to Hakase and patted her back. "All those wires. Really hard stuff, you know? Technology is great and very useful, but it's so much of a hassle to get up and running! Maybe it might be too much for you to comprehend-"
"I got it!", exclaimed Hakase, as she pulled out some wires and rearranged them quickly and neatly. More lights showed up from the modem and router, looking green. A notification popped up on the computer saying a network has been found.
"Wha… how did you…", Mr. Fujiomi was dumbfounded.
Hakase put her hand over her mouth. "Pupupu~, you forgot to plug the modem in."
All that time felt like it was wasted, the man thought to himself. He let out a goofy gasp as he fainted on the floor.
"Ah! Oji-san! Wake up! I need to know the password!", said Hakase, shaking the fainted body.
"All worked out, I see.", said Tamiko, walking up to Hakase and her 'deceased' father. "Can't catch a break for himself. So, you said you needed the password?"
"Hai!", replied Hakase, pulling out her smartphone and giving it to Tamiko. The older sister quickly typed out the network password in Hakase's notes and handed it back. "Thanks for helping out. He would have been at this all night."
"Teeheeheehee…", giggled Hakase, scratching the back of her head. She hopped on the desk chair and connected the computer to the network, as well as her own smartphone, just in case. Soon enough, as the genius child started configuring the Fujiomis' computer with antivirus software and necessary applications, Mr. Fujiomi got up from the floor, rubbed his head, and walked over towards the desk.
"How did you know how to fix our network?", asked Mr. Fujiomi, "You must be really smart for a girl your age."
As she was typing away, Hakase replied, "I should be! I'm not called Hakase for nothin'~"
"Wait a second…", replied the man, "are you ACTUALLY a professor?"
"Yep! Certified in research in robotics! I've also been learnin' I.T. as well!" Hakase sounded bold and confident explaining her status.
Mr. Fujiomi was stunned. To think that a girl, this young, could be so smart and knowledgeable in these fields, while still having a mentality of a child, could even exist. "Well, Hakase", he said to her with a bow, "I'm sorry for judging you before. From now on, I know who to talk to whenever I have computer troubles."
Hakase winked and flashed a thumbs up, "You got it, Oji-san!"
Although this was the second time she referenced Mr. Fujiomi by this name, it was the first he's hearing of it. He couldn't contain his laughter. "Hahaha, please! Oji-san?! It's Fujiomi-san."
"Ojifumi-san!"
That man is now laughing even harder. His poor, poor lungs.
—
The night fell, and the Shinonomes decided to take their leave after finishing moving all the boxes from the truck. Everything ran like clockwork. Since all the painting and drywalling has been done a week beforehand, all that was left was to take the rest of the contents out of the boxes, which the Fujiomi family said they can handle.
"Oyasumi, thank you for helping!", called out Mrs. Fujiomi to the Shinonomes.
"Our pleasure!", replied Nano, as she, as well as Hakase and Sakamoto-san, turned to go into their house. They were interrupted by a person heard running up to them from behind.
"Wait!", said Tadashi, catching up and holding a folded piece of paper. "Nano-chan, take this!"
"Hmm?" Nano took the paper and opened it up, revealing Tadashi's phone number.
"Text me tonight, okay?", said Tadashi, bowing.
"H-hai!", said Nano, bowing. "I will!"
Tadashi smiled with happiness and returned back to his house in progress. The Shinonomes returned inside of their laboratory home to crash for the night. As she lied down in her blankets, Nano pulled out her smartphone, added Tadashi into her contacts, and started texting him.
Another peaceful day passes at the Shinonome household.