Chapter 16 – Nokoru Tells a Story (Redux)
Kamui slept through the entire ride home. Alone, Fuuma had needed a taxi to move him across town to the shrine. In the quiet of the cab, he'd let his mind wander over an infinite number of possibilities, paying attention to none of them. His brain needed the exercise and he let it run.
Funny how the small persocon sitting on Kamui's shoulder had been the most coherent of the quartet. Once reception had been restored, Nokoru had recommended he take Satsuki with him, as insurance against Kanoe ever trying to get her hands on Kamui again. So now his companions had increased to one more surly persocon and he'd still been unable to regain his sister's or Sorata's friendship.
Morning came and Kamui hadn't recovered. The usual dawn alarm failed to execute in the little persocon, though Fuuma met the sunrise wide awake. His dreams had been a bit strange, and the last one finally woke him for good. In the growing half-light, he had looked down at Kamui's still profile, wondering what the events last night meant. He wasn't as shallow to think that ignoring Kanoe – a gorgeous woman – in favor of Kamui meant anything. She had kidnapped his persocon for crying out loud. She didn't deserve any interest beyond making sure she couldn't do it again.
But the strange aggressive attitude Kamui had adopted for those few minutes… that had made an impression.
And the nature of said impression bothered him.
He left the persocon tucked into his bed and pulled the curtains back to give him some sunlight, as per Nokoru's advice. There was little worry that Kamui would go anywhere, but just in case, he left a request with his father to prevent the persocon from leaving the house until he returned. Breakfast had been tense and quiet between the Monou children. Kotori refused to look at him, and given his own harrowing evening, he wasn't in the mood to mend any fences either.
Nokoru had asked him to meet him at the café on the CLAMP Campus, near the Imonoyama mansion. He was grateful for the change in location, the scrutiny and stuffy quality of the mansion was the last thing he wanted to subject himself to. He was hoping Nokoru would do the talking today.
Café Duklyon was smack in the center the campus shopping center. The bell jingled over the door as he entered, earning himself a cheerful "Welcome!" as he glanced around the small restaurant. He spotted Nokoru in the corner, accompanied as usual by his two persocon. He had once admired Nokoru for bucking social norms and calling the two persocon friends. But looking at the boy, centered between two mother-hen… robots… he felt a measure of pity. Was Nokoru his own future? He had no idea.
Crossing the busy café, he glanced around at the patrons and staff. One waiter, a tall, perky blonde with blue eyes, caught his gaze and smiled. A second later, he winked. Surprised, Fuuma looked away quickly, making a beeline for Nokoru's table. Fortunately, the elementary schooler's server was a no-nonsense young lady.
"How is Kamui-san?" Fuuma looked over at the black-haired persocon with the huge, grey eyes.
He offered the persocon a little smile. "He was still sleeping when I left," he replied. "I think he'll be okay, though."
The quartet waited until Fuuma's coffee arrived before Nokoru began. He noticed the youth's fan was nowhere in sight, maybe a sign that the topic was all business, given that the fan seemed a little frivolous.
"I'm sorry to call you out after a night like last night, Monou-san."
Fuuma waved him off, stirring sugar and creamer into his coffee. "Don't worry, Nokoru-san. I wish I hadn't had to break it off yesterday."
The blonde steepled his hands in front of his face. "I debated whether or not to tell you anything at all," he said slowly. "But it is important you understand what you've gotten yourself into."
The coffee paused, halfway to his mouth before he set it down. "What do you mean?"
"Do you know what your mother did for a living?"
Fuuma's brows furrowed as his chest ached with a dull sort of pain. It hadn't been easy, losing his mother. He'd been the last of the family to recover from her loss. "Mother? She was a housewife…"
Nokoru studied him for a long moment, then nodded, as if his answer had confirmed his supposition. "That's not quite true. Saya Monou was one of the originators of the persocon project, along with two other women."
"Wait… what!"
The younger boy's fingers began to fidget, playing with the straw of his tea for lack of anything better to occupy him. "Fifteen years ago, your mother and the Magami sisters created the basic design of the persocon. Your mother was a genius, Monou-san. Then six years ago, she and the Magami sisters, Tooru and Tokiko, set out to create artificial intelligence, AI for short."
"Create it?" Fuuma echoed, his head beginning to threaten a headache. Nokoru was trying to tell him that his mother, the school nurse and the nurse's sister had invented the persocon? Something… no, everything about that was completely unbelievable. Not to mention incomprehensible. "I thought all persocon had that."
"Not quite." Nokoru paused, taking a visible breath before continuing. "Persocon have a system that resembles AI, but there are limitations. Let me show you. Akira, please stand beside Suoh."
The persocon stood immediately, crossing to the other side of the table where the blue-haired persocon sat.
"Hit him, please."
Both persocon stared at their owner, shocked. "…what?"
"Kaichou?" Suoh asked, his eyes narrowing.
The blonde's face was impassive. "Just do it, please."
The sterner Nokoru's tone became, the more flustered Akira became. "K-kaichou, I… I can't …Takamura-senpai…" He began to wring his hands. Fuuma opened his mouth to protest, not understanding what sort of demonstration required causing so much anxiety.
"Akira, I'm telling you to do something."
Covering his face, finally, Akira shook his head violently. "I'm sorry Kaichou, but I can't!"
Nokoru closed his eyes for a very long blink. Fuuma saw the muscles clench in his jaw as the stern expression melted away into a deeply sorrowful one. "…. No, Akira," he said softly. "I'm sorry. I'll explain later. Can you and Suoh leave us for a little while?"
"Yes, Kaichou…" Suoh led Akira out of the café, looking back at his owner reproachfully.
Nokoru waited until they were out of sight to take a long draw from his tea. Fuuma waited quietly, disturbed by what he'd been shown, knowing that Nokoru had caused himself great pain for his benefit. "You see, Monou-san," the blonde began after a moment. "All persocon as they are now have a basic programming they are not able to go against. Akira is, by programming, a pacifist. He cannot harm another person, be they human or persocon, even if he was in danger.
"Now, Suoh has no such program. If I had told him to hit you, he would have, if it had proved to be the most logical option. I asked Akira to do something he couldn't, and I believe I hurt him."
"Nokoru-san…"
"It's all right. Fortunately for me, Akira's programming doesn't let him be unhappy for very long. But this illustrates my point, I believe." He looked Fuuma straight in the eye. "I told you before, that no matter how much a persocon learns, it is still dictated by its base program. It will never grow beyond it.
"Your mother and her colleagues created a completely autonomous AI. Artificial intelligence in its purest sense. The program allows the computer to learn, experience and think, all on its own. It has no base program. It can take what it knows and makes its own conclusions. Because of this, it also has the ability to feel emotions. They managed to create a perfect replication of the human mind in machine form." The wistful smile seemed tinted with envy. "Truly an astonishing achievement."
Fuuma sat back in his chair, searching through memories of his mother that might have hinted at that kind of achievement. He remembered his mother as quiet, gentle, and indulgent. That last had always driven his father crazy, though the pair rarely quarreled about anything. Their marriage had been peaceful, traditional... so normal it could've been a television show plot. Even as she was dying, his mother had never said anything. "And Mother…. did that?"
Nokoru nodded. "I'm a little surprised you never knew. I would have thought she would have been proud of that."
"She never said anything…" The comment, though well-meaning, sent a bitter sting of anger through his chest. He drained his coffee, thinking it was time this information session ended. His mind, already kilometers ahead of him, was trying to come up with a way to confront his father about this information. It was possible he hadn't known about his mother's accomplishments. For his father not to have known would have been completely impossible.
The blonde across the table watched his every movement, waiting until the waitress had taken Fuuma's cup before speaking. "There is one more thing, Monou-san."
"Oh?"
"Even though the AI project was never actually implemented, I have reason to believe that it was placed in one persocon. One that was never intended for sale."
Fuuma paused, turning to look at the boy and remembering the picture he'd shown him. He didn't want to believe that coincidence stretched that far, and just looked at Nokoru with a faintly curious expression.
"My family funded most of their research. The project was named for their test subject. It was called the "Kamui" project."
He closed his eyes, resting his hand on his forehead. It just figured. "Then Kamui…"
"It is the same persocon."
Fuuma didn't remember much of the train ride and walk home. One moment, he was walking out of the café, bidding farewell to Suoh and Akira, the next he stood at his own front door. Mechanically, he opened the door and slipped off his shoes. He could hear his father's paper rustling in the living room. Kotori's cheerful voice was nowhere to be heard. His sister was probably on another date with Sorata, and that didn't bother him.
"Fuuma?" His father called. "Is that you?"
Kyougo looked up as he stepped into the family room. "Kamui-kun is still upstairs," he said as he folded his paper, focusing in on a certain section. "I haven't seen him all morning."
"I need to ask you something, Father."
The paper descended to the tabletop, glasses following it. Fuuma watched his father's movements with a surprising amount of fury. His father had carried a secret with him for more than seventeen years, keeping it from his children even after their mother had died. Had denied them such an important piece of her and never showed the strain. "Why didn't you tell us about Mother?"
The older man's eyes widened. Evidently, his question hadn't been what Kyougo had expected. Suddenly, the crow's feet around his eyes and the lines around his mouth seemed to deepen. His hair looked a little grayer around the edges. His father aged almost ten years in front of him.
"She asked me not to tell you."
The tatami mats did little to cushion Fuuma as he sat down heavily, the truth of Nokoru's information finally sinking in. He had been willing to believe the boy-genius had been toying with him – for whatever reason – or just misinformed until his father confirmed everything. "Why?"
With a sigh, Kyougo's expression softened into the wistful smile of nostalgia. "She was so adamant when she made me promise.
"I met your mother through an arranged marriage," the older man began. "Your grandparents were very traditional. Though she had every accolade she could hope for, they weren't satisfied until she found herself a husband and settled down."
Fuuma thought back to his grandparents with a slight wince. They had both been extremely stiff people, especially his grandmother. He and Kotori had joked more than once that their mother had to have been adopted. She had caught them once and his hands had ached for hours from all the cleaning they'd been assigned as punishment.
Kyougo caught the wince and chuckled softly, perhaps sharing the memory. "I knew your mother was a very talented woman, and she had been part of a close-knit team. I told her from the beginning that I didn't mind her continuing to work. But she wouldn't hear of it." He glanced at Fuuma. "She had a bit of her mother in her, which I see a lot of in you.
"She quit her job the week we were married and never spoke of it again. Once in a while, she would meet with her old teammates, but she always seemed to be very happy as a wife and mother."
Fuuma nodded. "I always thought so."
"Fuuma," his father's tone made him look up. Kyougo studied him critically. "No matter what you might think, your mother loved you a great deal. And your sister as well." He smiled, though it looked sadder the longer Fuuma watched it. "I believe she loved you both more than she ever loved me."
"Father…"
"It's all right," Kyougo said, waving a hand at him. "I made my peace with it long ago. I knew I wasn't her soul mate even before we got married. But I still loved your mother, and tried my hardest to take care of her."
Dumbstruck, Fuuma sat completely still. He had never expected his father – who'd always seemed a little too strict when he was growing up – to have been such a romantic. Nor had he believed he would have been told any of this when he'd posed his question. After his mother's death, subjects regarding her had been understandably off-limits, and they had all moved on. For his father to be so open about things he hadn't even fathomed… clearly the years of secret keeping had been difficult for him.
"I know she was involved with something really important." He managed after several moments of silence.
Kyougo nodded. "It was right after you entered middle school," he said, his voice taking on a slight edge Fuuma didn't know how to interpret. His last year of middle school had been the year his mother had passed away. "One of her old colleagues approached her with a very important project. Your mother initially refused to sign on, but a few more meetings convinced her.
"She came to me to ask for my support, and I couldn't say no to her." Now his father's face had begun to tighten, his eyes began to shine in a way that made Fuuma's own throat close painfully. "She had given me almost fifteen years of her life, and two beautiful children. Who was I to try to keep her from what she had always wanted to do?
"So, she spent her mornings and evenings with us, and the rest of her time was devoted to her research. And I never saw her so happy."
Letting out a shaky breath, Kyougo turned away from his son, and no one had to tell Fuuma twice that the interview was finished. Almost ashamed at the reaction his ill-mannered question had brought, he escaped the living room as quickly as possible. He'd never known, never even suspected his mother had lived such a complete double life. He'd always fancied himself at being in tune with his family, a responsible member and almost an adult… but really, he had been much too wrapped up in his own life to notice something so blatant.
His bedroom door creaked open and he entered to find Kamui smiling up at him.
Kamui.
The last thing his mother had worked on. The amazing piece of technology she'd worked herself to death to create.
He should have hated Kamui for taking his mother.
"Welcome back, Fuuma."
But he couldn't. Not when the little persocon's face lit up like that, and only for him. Crossing the bedroom floor, he hesitantly reached out and caught Kamui up in a fierce hug, his chest so painfully tight it could burst at any moment.
"Fuuma?" Came Kamui's soft voice. "What wrong? Does something hurt?"
My heart. "My head."
The persocon pulled away to feel his forehead. "It not hot… no fever."
Shaking off gesture, he brought Kamui closer to him. "No," he murmured. "No fever. It hurts… inside."
A pause as Kamui digested that. "Fuuma," he began again. "Why you hug Kamui?"
Because my mother probably held you once, like this.
Because you're here.
Because…
"I don't know… but, is it okay?"
"Is okay."
This chapter was almost completely exposition and dialogue, so I apologize for that. The information had to be given, or else the plot couldn't move forward. But, there was some character development, and some bittersweet fluff. :D There will be one more chapter of exposition, probably chapter eighteen, but seventeen should be more action-oriented. Thanks for reading!
Next Chapter: Two confessions, some advice, and a huge mistake. O-tanoshimi ni!