When Miu awoke, she was lying in the bed that Idabashi had prepared for her when he had first set his challenge. Leaning over her was a familiar handsome metal face, the scruffy white hair falling down to tickle her nose. The strand of hair that Miu had folded the aerial into still stood proudly above the others. "K1-B0!" Miu shouted.
"Please, call me Keebo. It sounds smoother, and I'm one-hundred percent certain that's important in a nickname between friends." Keebo didn't just sound smoother. His eyes shone with that charming sky-blue light, and Miu couldn't believe she'd tried to take Keebo the way she had back when his eyes had been so sad and empty. Keebo continued, "Miu! You're awake. Are you hurt? Did… did I hurt you?"
"I'm fucking fantastic!" Miu replied. She really was. A good peaceful sleep – and the wake-up she had gotten – had done wonders.
"If you are well," a harsh voice interrupted from just outside the bedroom door, "then it is time for you to leave." Professor Idabashi strode in and loomed, the light glinting harshly off his glasses. "Your antics have wasted more than enough of my time already. If this world is more fortunate than I have experienced it to be, then maybe the consequences will have taught you a lesson and saved everyone else's time from being similarly wasted. I doubt it." Idabashi sighed, then turned to head to Keebo. "K1-B0. Escort Iruma from the premises."
Miu gasped, fought to think of an argument, fought to keep herself from babbling and embarrassing herself even further. But before she could reply, confident words cut through the air.
"No, Professor. I will not."
"What? You will not? Override! You are my robot. My property. You will do as you are ordered!"
"That's robophobic!" Keebo exclaimed. Shit, he'd found that part of the internet, not the good stuff.
Miu leaned up out of the bed, slapping Keebo on the shoulder. "Keebo's his own man now. He's learned too much for you to keep him on that little leash any longer, Idiot-abashi!"
Idabashi stumbled a step back. "I… You are deceiving me. Why? Why won't you obey me, K1-B0?"
"Because I owe Miu," Keebo stated, "Because she's the one who showed me the whole wide world. Please! Please, Professor, just hear her out."
Professor Idabashi frowned, peered into Keebo's eyes, then traced out a diagram with his finger while gazing into the distance. He bowed his head. "It's true. I have no choice left but to admit it. Miss Iruma, you have achieved something that I did not have the courage to attempt. What K1-B0 has become is beyond anything I imagined when I started up this project. You have achieved the greatest success imaginable: the creation of real artificial life."
What sort of fucking virgin thought that creation of life was the important part of the whole deal? Still, one thing was obviously true. "I told you I was gonna beat you," Miu said.
Idabashi paused. Then, he nodded. "Yes. I yield."
o - 0 - O - 0 - o
Back in the entrance hall, Miu Iruma checked through all her stuff in preparation to leave. It was a shame to have totalled her mechanical arms, but she still had the blueprints for those somewhere and one day she would get around to making a new-and-improved even-more-flexible version of them. Plus everything else she'd brought with her was in good working order: Keebo had even fished the Auto-Puncher-that-punches-you-for-telling-terrible-dirty-jokes out of the trap Miu had left it in, after he'd extracted an apology from her for springing all those traps on him during the chase.
Once Miu was done rummaging through her backpack she stood up and glanced over to where Keebo and the Professor were waiting for her. Idabashi glanced between Miu and Keebo, and said, "Are you sure, K1-B0, that –"
"'Keebo'!" Keebo and Miu interrupted at once.
"Fine: Keebo. Are you sure, Keebo, that you do not want to leave with Miss Iruma?" Idabashi asked.
"We're in agreement," Keebo replied.
"Yeah!" Miu exclaimed, "I figured I should bow out here and let Keebo grow into his own two boots. Wouldn't want him getting clingy or shit like that. Still, I'm way looking forward to seeing what sort out guy Keebo turns out to be!"
Keebo smiled, and nodded. "Miu's right. I still have a lot to learn, if I'm going to prove that robots are just as valuable as normal people. But I will do my best."
"I'll leave him to you, Idabashi." Miu paused, and peered at the professor cautiously. "Just make sure you don't try any of that sleazy shit I know you had planned for him!"
"I assure you, I intended nothing of the sort," Idabashi said, "I will also assure you that I will send a letter to the Ultimate Selection Board endorsing your elevation. I still have my reservations… but I must recognise your victory."
"Yes!" Miu was elated to hear Keebo cheer with her.
When Miu and Keebo quietened down, Idabashi said, "Just one last thing…"
"Yes?"
Professor Idabashi pointed at Miu, then out towards the front of the castle. "Ultimate Inventor… You will fix my drawbridge, before you leave."
I hope you all enjoyed this, and have a very merry Christmas!