Chibi heard something upsetting while he was cleaning up that day. Quiet sobbing was coming from Jenny's room. The door was closed, but Chibi put his toothbrush away and ran to the door, knocking loudly on it.
"What!?" Jenny unlocked her door and opened it, "Chibi-Robo? What are you doing here so late?"
He jumped up and down, extending his arms to her.
"Alright..." she picked him up, wiping her wet eyes, "Sorry...it's just...everyone at school says that I'm fat..."
No! Chibi proclaimed. He moved his hands together and then outwards in a curved shape.
"I'm curvy?" she laughed through her tears, "You're just saying that cuz you're nice..."
Chibi shook his head vigorously. He took his notepad out and wrote, yur butiful, then he drew a big shaky heart shape around the crudely written words.
"Aw..." she sat down on her bed, "You really mean that?"
Yes! he insisted, digging the end of the pencil into the paper.
Jenny's smile fell, "Chibi...you've been following me, haven't you?"
He was about to respond, but stopped at the last second.
"I've seen you sneak into the pocket of my backpack." she explained, "If you're worried about me, you don't have to be. I'll be perfectly okay."
There was something off about her tone, but he decided not to push her on the issue. As he headed back into the hallway above the foyer, Jenny smiled sweetly at him before closing the door.
He thought to come back the next morning, just to be safe.
The room was quiet while Chibi relayed the story. He looked at everyone else, anticipation clear in their eyes.
He finished the story with, I found a noose in her room.
The girls gasped.
I didn't know what it was at first, but I had a bad feeling about it. Chibi wrung his hands together, So I told Mom-er, excuse me, Jenny's mom Mrs. Sanderson about it. She nearly fainted. he paused to gather his thoughts again, Jenny luckily didn't get her head in the noose before her dad stopped her, though he just caught her as she fell. If she had been any closer, she wouldn't have lived.
"That's awful!" Rose said.
"Was she okay?" Leah asked.
Yeah. Mom got her into therapy and she was able to live normally after that. It was the first day I let her go to school without me when I fell asleep in the backyard tree and didn't wake up for hundreds of years. he had to pause again to compose himself, I saw the signs, but I didn't realize what it meant. She almost died because I didn't know someone would want to kill themself. It was honestly one of the most horrifying things I've ever had to experience.
"That's why Jenny went into therapy!?" Telly asked incredulously.
Yeah. She asked us not to tell anyone, but it's been more than 800 years, so I think she'd forgive me. Chibi would have laughed if he was capable, Jenny had actually been suicidal for about a year before her attempt to take her own life.
"How long did you know?" Rose asked, "About Leah, I mean."
Since she escaped to shut down the facility. She was so unconcerned with her own life being threatened, it scared me. I actually made her take me with her because I was afraid she was leaving to take her life. I wanted to at least keep an eye on her. I had my eyes open from day one.
"So that's how you knew..." Leah shook lightly, "You saved my life..."
Of course I did! I love you!
Everyone gasped.
Oops. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. He pulled the device off his head. That's the problem with thought-to-text, he supposed.
"Chibi..." Leah had glowing warmth in her expression, "Is that...true...?"
Well, no backing out now. He put the gizmo back on his head, Yes...I... he didn't let himself stop, ...I love you...I didn't know it before, but I love you so much... he was rambling, but he still didn't stop, I love your orange eyes, I love your sweet and caring nature, I love your kindness, I love your programming skills, I love the shine and the curve of your body, I love-! he yanked the device off again, but the words still echoed in his head, Love...love...love...
He was afraid to look at her again. He couldn't look up. He couldn't open his eyes.
He felt a gentle hand under his chin, and he let it prop his head up. His eyes met Leah's soft orange ones.
"Oh, Chibi..." Leah's voice was full of emotion, "I feel the same..."
Leah wasn't allowed to leave the repair ward until her slow supply of power remained consistent, and even then, it would quickly deplete when she was disconnected. Her sisters would have to force her back onto the machine and reconnect her until she was stabilized again. It took almost eight hours for her battery to be able to function on its own, and Chibi refused to leave her the whole time.
"Okay..." EVE returned with a stack of code, "I got all the information on depression and suicide in all the databanks of the world..."
"How long has it been since you've slept?" Rio asked.
"How long has it been since you've slept?"
"I don't sleep, remember?" Rio rolled her eyes, "That's the definition of insomnia!"
"Stop..." Leah said, "It's too loud..."
Everyone was quiet.
"Well..." EVE sifted through the pages, filled with nothing but ones and zeros, "So it looks like in humans, happiness comes from 'endorphins' and 'dopamine'." she said almost business-like, "Depression is often caused when the brain can't make enough endorphins to keep the person in a normal mental state. As a result, they stop...feeling."
"They stop feeling?" Ruby said, "You mean like a sociopath?"
"No, not like that. It's more like a lingering sadness that won't go away, so you just become numb to it." EVE replied, continuing down each page, "They start to not care so much about anything, and it can get so bad that they begin to doubt themselves; Doubt that anyone would care if they just..."
She stopped there, but everyone got the point.
"Anyway, we didn't know about this because medical advancements have almost eradicated it to the point where no one knew what it was anymore. I had to really dig to find these files."
That sounded about right, although Jenny fell victim to anxiety and peer pressure more than depression, it made sense to Chibi.
He didn't care either way. He wasn't leaving Leah until she was better.