Waking up in the morning

Used to be so peaceful

That is,

Until I met you

I can't keep my mind off what you do to me

I'm a crazy, hazy wreck every day

Going into withdrawal

Chapter 3: The Surface

Before the terrible thing that happened, there was another incident. Let me ask you this: Do you know what betrayal tastes like? It tastes just like the ground. Do you know what it sounds like? It sounds like raspy, ragged breathing. Do you know what it feels like? It's like someone is roasting your insides and mashing your entire being flat. You can't call for help because it's already too late, and besides that, you were threatened to be killed if you told. Not to mention that this was from someone you trusted like a father. In the end, your screams of pain were your only outlet of frustration and anger.

. . .

"Papa!"

An echoing of the sharp, fast pitter-patter of footsteps bounced around the corridor.

"Papa!"

A girl's voice, high and light, cut through the near-silence of the laboratory. There were a few curious programmers who peeked out of their offices, only to see a flash of pink, white, and yellow dart past. Usually, they ignored it, but this time something was definitely off. That sprightly little Persocom wasn't saying "Papa" out of joy.

It was out of distress.

Dr. Hibiya literally dropped what he was doing; his clipboard clattered on the floor when he spun around. His daughter tackled him and he put his arms around her gently. This was unlike her to say the least. She usually didn't interrupt him while he was working, and even when she did it was never like this.

"What's wrong, Elda?"

There was confusion in her voice as she spoke, but the horror was clearly felt.

"There's something wrong, Papa."

. . .

As class begun, Hideki couldn't help but steal a look at the new student and his Persocom.

In all honesty, she was unlike any model he had ever seen. Most Persocoms had smooth, alabaster skin, and bright, colorful eyes. She was an even "coffee-with-cream" shade, and owned eyes of a deep, dark brown. Hideki wondered how well-off this "Smith" person was, because of how well he dressed himself and his 'com. Those shoes, Converses, he noted, were over 4000 yen, and sometimes cost even more. He'd seen them the other day in the store while shopping for new shoes. Slightly jealous, Hideki looked to his old Nikes. A hole was forming in the sole, and they were becoming uncomfortably small.

Apparently, from the teacher's introduction, he wanted to study in Japan at the famous Tokyo U. Cram school was just a way of acclimating himself to the academic environment in Japan, or so he claimed.

After Ms. Shimizu had finished her lesson for the first half of the school-day, she had assigned a project for them all to work on. They had to choose a well-known English novel and translate one chapter into Japanese. She held up the list of acceptable books; mostly they were children's series, but that was to ensure that they weren't too difficult to understand.

Ms. Shimizu went on to explain that they could work in groups, but for each member they had, the group was required to turn in a chapter. They had two weeks to finish the task, and would be allowed to use class-time to collaborate as well.

During the lesson, Amber looked straight ahead, trying to stay perfectly still. Out of the corner of her eye, she could swear Garrett was smirking at her struggle. How in hell could he stay still for so long? She tried to think of something to distract her from the monotonous task of impersonating a Persocom.

Briefly, she examined her clothes. Maybe she was overdressed for the first day of cram school?

Instead of the usual faintly-gothic fare she wore, she had a very different outfit prepared for today. The dress itself was a light cream color, and had layers stacked upon layers of ruffles near the hem, which stopped at the middle of her shins. It had long-sleeves that stopped halfway at her hands, showing only her fingers. Of course, she had a flower in her hair to match the ensemble, as well as her shoes.

It had taken some time to affix the fake ears in such a specific way, but the end result was desirable. Everyone seemed to believe she really was a Persocom. This was clearly seen, because right after Ms. Shimizu said they could have partners, they all flocked to surround Garrett and Amber. Not everyone could afford Persocom, and some thought that they could have a shot at acing the project if their partner could just use his PC to translate. Others just were curious as to where he got such a computer; she was very exotic-looking compared to the models offered in Japan. Most speculated it to the fact that in America there was more of a variety in terms of models, and custom made PCs were basically the norm there.

It was Ms. Shimizu who eventually broke up the crowd that had somehow condensated around their table like water droplets.

"All right, class, I'm sure he feels very welcome now," she told them sternly. "But I was wondering if I should assign partners, considering everyone's enthusiasm to work with Smith-san."

A collective groan issued forth from the students.

"Okay, now." She looked around the class, taking in the mass of hopeful faces. "Since Motosuwa-kun was the one of the two good boys who didn't overwhelm Smith-san…"

Hideki perked up at his name. "M-me?"

'This isn't going to be good,' he thought. Math and Science were his strongest subjects. On the entrance exam to Tokyo U last year, English was what had brought his scores down the most.

"Yup! Say hello to your new partner, Smith-san!"

Glancing over at Shinbo, Hideki sighed. He couldn't help him, now could he? Hideki brought his chair over to their table, facing Garrett. The boy had a large smile on his face, and had his hands folded in his lap.

"Nice to meet you…Motosuwa-san, was it?"

"Yes, Motosuwa Hideki." Hideki looked at the boy's extended hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you too, Smith-san."

"Please, call me Garrett," he said, winking. "And you don't have to be so polite. I was hoping we could be friends."

Hideki felt his eyes moving to the girl next to Garrett. "And nice to meet you too, uh…."

Those dark eyes looked at him blankly, with no emotion radiating from them at all.

"Her name's Amber," said Garrett, quickly noting his Partner's subtle discomfort. "She doesn't talk much at first, but once she gets to know you, it's impossible to get her to be quiet."

Her eyes now focused on Garrett, annoyance evidenced only by her tone. "Bakame," she muttered, referring to her "master." Hideki bit his lip and raised a confused eyebrow.

Five minutes later, he realized that staying around those two would be very fun to watch.

"Fusai Dursley no dai shi wa, ibotanokidoraibu ni sunde ita," said Garrett slowly. He tried his best to translate the passage with efficiency, and pronounced every syllable with the greatest care. The translation program he had created was acting up again, and at the moment, he was feeling all too human for his liking.

After Garrett finished the paragraph, Amber just had to give her two cents, which wasn't unusual, even if she was pretending to a walking-talking computer.

"Correct translation," she said, blinking once and then looking him in the face. "However, it sounds too stiff."

He knew better than to argue with her. After all, he couldn't do everything right every single time.

Hideki for the most part merely sat back and watched them talk over the latest paragraph. For the most part they spoke in English; the reason why, he did not know, but from the sound of it, they were fighting over a certain use of the words "wa" , "de" and "o".

When 4:00 rolled around, the class disassembled like a mass of egos smashed to the floor, so Hideki and Shinbo rose to leave.

"C'mon, Amber, let's go." Garrett nudged her lightly before getting up himself, stretching as he did. The imitation of such a human action was impeccable on his part, and no one was the wiser.

Ms. Shimizu waved to the new students. "Hold on you two, I want to talk to you for a moment." She walked over and handed Garrett a paper. "This is a list of supplementary materials you might find useful. I know Japanese isn't your first language, so it might help a lot." She spoke slowly, in English, pronouncing every word carefully so that she would be understood better. "There's also a list of study-aid programs that you could install on your Persocom that could come in handy…." The teacher looked him in the eye, noting his dark look. "Do you…understand?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, nodding. "Thank you very much. I'm sure this list can help me greatly."

He gestured to Amber. "The translation program that was pre-installed isn't the best."

She wanted to scowl at him, but kept up the façade. Amber bowed slightly to Ms. Shimizu and smiled.

"Nice to meet teacher today. How are you, teacher?" she said in somewhat broken Japanese. It had been a while since she had held a whole conversation in the language, so it would take quite some time to become absolutely fluent, like she had planned.

"Oh, I see," said Ms. Shimizu slowly. "I take it you will be taking notes with her despite that?"

"Yes," lied Garrett. In reality, he had been transcribing and translating the notes into his memory banks, and later he would help Amber to go over them.

"Well I hope the best for you, Smith-san, and that you adjust to life in Tokyo soon."

It was a little disconcerting to both of them, how she only addressed Garrett and not Amber as well. It was as if she were another object in the room, like a chair or desk, for example. If she had cared much about it, Amber would have been upset, but she merely 'stood there and looked pretty' as one would put it.

Despite the whole thing, though, Garrett tried his best to assume a very laid-back yet respectful air.

"Again, thank you, Shimizu-sensei."

Amber lifted his backpack from the floor and handed it to him. He slung it across one shoulder without much effort. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll be off."

She watched the duo leave, waving as she did. "Take care of yourself! Don't get lost on the way back home."

…

As they made their way down the sparsely packed street, Garrett began whistling and humming 'Hedwig's Theme'.

About a minute into the tune, Amber let out a harrumph and looked at the merry-sounding Chobit.

"You were awfully friendly with her," she said coldly. Looking down, she watched her shoes click click against the concrete at a steady pace. "Very friendly."

Shrugging, he seemed to not understand what she meant.

"I try my best to always be charming,"

"Sure," she said.

'You always were…' she thought to herself bitterly. Was he always so oblivious to how she felt about him, or did he practice it on a regular basis?

"So we're going to be staying with Hibiya-sama, aren't we?" he asked. His face was looking skyward. The things they had to share with her, it was going to be very interesting to meet the wife of the late genius who had helped to invent Persocoms. In a way, she was like his mother.

"You already knew that," Amber reminded him.

"Just making sure…"

"Making sure of what?"

He thought for a second, but then smiled. "That you didn't change your mind about this."

Scoffing, the girl folded her arms. "I assure you that it won't happen," she told him.

Garrett glanced at her for a moment. In the sunlight, the red ribbon tied around her neck wavered slightly in the breeze, the two little tails extending from the bow streaming backwards like a pair of banners. The makeup artists had done a remarkable job to ensure she had the flawless, smoothed out skin of a Persocom.

After a moment, he put his hands behind his head awkwardly. Usually he had something so say but…

"What is it?" said Amber, breaking into his reverie.

"O-oh, uh…" His vocal processors seemed unable to output his thoughts at the moment. "It's just that you look really nice today." He couldn't help but add: "You're wearing makeup, right?"

She smirked, feeling only just a little proud of herself. "Only some powder; nothing serious."

All too suddenly, he felt like an idiot for not noticing before.

"Right. Anyway, here we are," he announced, taking his mind off...other matters.

Before them was Gub Jogasaki; just a normal, friendly apartment complex with no secrets to show. Well, on the outside at least. Hopefully, the staff had moved their belongings into the room already.

"Race you?" she asked, grinning like a hellion.

"Yeah," said Garrett, tightening his grip on his backpack. "We are on equal footing after all."

Both teens set off in a mad dash toward their ever-clarifying destiny.

. . .

After all, that was

A very long time ago

That my legs…

Nevermind, it does not matter

What matters is that I'm with you!

We are both Still Alive

Hey stop worrying!

You know that I've healed, right?

Right?

Maybe not, maybe I'm still broken

Maybe I'm still broken,

Maybe I'm st-st-st-ill bro-

~* Zzzzzt *~

. . .

Please read and review! Check out the TvTropes page! The link is on my profile. Wild Mas Guesses are now being accepted. The first and second poems are both mine.