Will continues his shopping trip in search of a great gift for Misato! Unfortunately, she's still a Mechadoll, so any gift he gets her will have to be pretty impressive to satisfy a robot. Meanwhile, what are Nikita and Reiner doing with all this? Reiner struck out on his own, while in the meantime, Nikita has gone with Will. Hopefully they'll be able to figure something out! While Misato remains in pieces in the lab.

KedharS: She's getting more and more human by the day, for better or worse. Soon she'll be brainwashed by a cult.

Venoms Cross 2: There's definitely a lot of sweetness there, which is good because Misato the Mechadoll needs all the help she can get.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1266

"So what's up?" Will asked. He and Nikita had stopped off at the music store.

"I know, right?" Nikita said, rifling through the CDs. "Who in the world has a CD player anymore? What next, a radio card so you can play tunes? That sounds like the most useless thing in the world. What would you even do with it, set it to the pokeflute channel to wake up sleeping pokemon?"

Will stared at her in confusion. Nikita said a lot of weird stuff, but that was definitely some of the weirdest he'd heard from her. She seemed nervous and her hands were fidgety as she rifled through the selection of CDs.

"That's not what I meant," he clarified.

"Well, I don't know what you mean," Nikita said. She walked to the other side of the shelf, obviously putting some distance between the two of them. At the same time, though, she was occasionally peaking up at him from behind the shelf.

This was starting to get annoying. That was the thing Will liked about Misato, she was very blunt and direct. If she had something she wanted to say, she didn't care about the social niceties. She'd just say whatever was on her mind. Not the case for other girls. Nikita was his friend, and she still didn't feel comfortable talking with him.

He sighed. "Come on, Nikita. I know you didn't drag me off alone for no reason," he said. "So what is it? What did you want to talk about?"

Nikita flinched. She glanced away from him. This was going nowhere. They'd spend all day like this evidently.

"Nikita, are you serious?" He sighed. "Are we just going to hang around in this store doing nothing or are you going to tell me?"

"It's embarrassing!" She hissed, looking around frantically. "…Fine."

She came back over to his side of the shelf, glancing nervously down at her feet.

"Okay, so… the thing is… well, it's just like that!" Nikita said.

"…That was nothing, you told me nothing."

"Well I can't do all the work for you! Figure it out yourself!" She pouted.

A lot of people said robot girls were less trouble than real girls. Will could see where they were coming from.

"Look, don't tell me," Will shrugged. "But I can't help unless you let me know what's going on," he said, holding up his hands in defeat.

Nikita hung her head and sighed. "Okay, so… it's just… it's about what Dakota said before, about how Reiner and I aren't a good couple…"

Will winced. "That really stung for you, huh?"

She nodded glumly. "Well, how would you feel? I people were talking about how you weren't compatible with your girlfriend and that you should just break up?"

Will stared at her.

"You and Reiner were making funny of me all day because my 'girlfriend' is a Mechadoll," he reminded her.

She smiled sheepishly. "…Okay, yeah, but I mean…"

"Look, it's fine, Misato's not my real girlfriend anyway," Will said, not wanting to get into a debate on the topic at the moment. "But I agree, that really must suck. So what do you want me to do about it?" He asked.

"Well, it's not that you need to DO anything," Nikita said, glancing down awkwardly. "It's just, well… I was hoping…"

Will sighed. "Come on, out with it. What's up?"

"Well… do you think… I don't know, could you help me pick out a present for Reiner? Pretty please? It would mean a lot!" She begged.

"Wait, you want to get Reiner a present?" Will asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I do," she nodded. "I mean, he was so happy to see me when he came back, and me, what do I do? I dump an essay into his lap and make him review it with me! What kind of girlfriend does that?!" She asked.

"…A crazy one," Will begrudgingly admitted. Nikita slapped him in the arm and scowled.

"Hey! Don't hit me!" Will whined. "Anyway, look, if you want me to help you pick out a gift for Reiner, no problem. I'm happy to help you out."

"…Really?" Nikita asked, her apprehension fading away into a brilliant smile. "Okay, yeah, that's awesome! Thanks!"

"So is that why we're here?" Will asked, glancing around the music store. "The last CD shop in the world?"

"Well, I mean, Reiner likes music, so I figured why not?" She shrugged. "I can make him a mixed tape or something."

"You were calling CDs ancient, and here you are praising mixed tapes?" Will snorted. "Why don't you just buy him some vinyl records while you're at it?"

"Jerk," Nikita pouted. "I'm serious here! I'll burn some songs on a CD for him, it'll be sweet, don't you think?"

Will shrugged. "I mean, I guess it could be. Still, dude's got a cell phone. You could just send him some song files."

"…Fair enough," Nikita admitted.

"Does Reiner even HAVE a CD player?" Will asked next.

"Uh… well, Blake has one…"

"Does he let anyone use it?"

"No, he's always plugging it into those headphones of his," Nikita said.

"So what are we doing here then?" Will asked.

"…Fair enough," Nikita nodded. The two left the music store shortly after that.

"Well, since operation mixed tape was a bust, where were you thinking of going next?" Will asked. "Because I don't imagine Misato would be much one for music, either."

Now that he was thinking about it, it was possible that Misato might have been a fan of vinyl records. She liked old books, after all, there were crazier things to have happen. But he didn't want to waste his precious money on a gift unless he was sure that they'd like it.

And with Misato, well, that just wasn't the case.

I just need to think ahead, he reminded himself. Figure out what it is that she wants me to give her. Once I do that, then I'll-

He stopped and jerked his head around to see the shop they'd just passed.

"Hey, Nikita, what about here?" He asked, gesturing to the large store. "It's an electronics store, we should be able to find something good here."

"Buying something for your robot girlfriend from an electronics store?" Nikita asked, raising her eyebrow with a smirk. "Are you going to replace some parts on her or something? Because that seems a little skeevy to me…"

"Very funny," Will laughed. "No I was thinking that maybe I could get her something for data storage. Like a backup drive or something"

Nikita blinked. "Data storage? But isn't her brain, like, a computer?"

Will shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"So what would a computer need to store data for?" Nikita asked.

"Well I was thinking that it would put less of a burden on her," Will explained. "Just think about it. With all the input she absorbs on a daily basis, her processing power must be immense. So I was just thinking that it would be nice if… I don't know, I bought her something she could use to store excess data she didn't need."

"Did someone say something about storing excess data?" A voice came up from behind him. Will nearly screamed and fell over, whirling around to see who was confronting him. It was an older boy, who was walking with a limp.

"Oscar?" Nikita asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a frequent customer of this place," Oscar said. "Look at the stuff on the walls. You see anything familiar?"

All the electronics in the shop had "Silph Co." on the box.

"Oh, SIlph Corporation, that's, um…" Nikita had started out the sentence excited, but thn she remembered who she was talking to. She doubted Oscar wanted to be reminded of the time when his father was killed in the terrorist attacks from Team Rocket. Even if the corporation survived the damage of the attack, losing their leader (who was also one of the most brilliant engineers in the company) had been a massive blow.

But the bigger blow was inflicted on Oscar. The poor guy had lost just about everything from that attack, and Nikita's heart went out to him.

After all… I lost something there, too, she thought, tearing up a little. But now wasn't the time to start crying over her father. There was more important stuff to do.

"I'm trying to buy something with a lot of storage capacity," Will said. "It's kind of a bust, though. Since I don't know if it's even necessary."

"Well, what are you trying to buy, and who's it for?" Oscar asked. "How much data to they normally process? These are the sorts of vital questions you need to ask if you're going to do shopping for someone else, you know.

"Yeah, that's the thing," Will sighed. "I was trying to keep it a surprise."

Oscar raised his eyebrows. "A surprise?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah," Will said. "You, uh… you know Misato, right?" It was the lamest question he'd ever asked. OF COURSE Oscar New Misato; he was the one in charge of repairing her. So why did Will ask a dimbulb question like that one?

"…We're familiar," Oscar said, raising his eyebrow in confusion. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, because…" Will didn't know how to explain it, especially not to someone much more in the know about the internal workings of Misato's systems.

"He wants to buy something for her," Nikita butted in. And Will had accused HER of beating around the bush too much!?

"Yeah, I figured that part out, thanks," Oscar laughed. "So you want to buy something for Misato? That's… definitely an interesting decision. She's a Mechadoll, so I'm curious why you want to get her a gift."

"Well, 'want' is a strong word," Will said. "More like she demanded that I buy her something, if we're being honest."

Oscar was surprised. His eyes widened in confusion before narrowing with suspicion. "Misato asked you to buy something for her?"

"Again, the word I used was 'demanded'," Will clarified. "It did NOT seem like I had a choice in the matter."

"That's… definitely interesting," Oscar said thoughtfully. He knew the way Misato behaved. The idea of her asking some random student, even one who was also a member of the Phantom's Organization, just seemed completely irrational. What need did she have for a present?"

"I said he was crazy since she's just a robot," Nikita said. "But this guy-"

"She's so much more than a robot," Oscar corrected her. He was oddly serious, with none of his usual levity.

Nikita was a little taken aback. "I-I mean, I know 'robot' isn't the correct term, she's a Mechadoll, right, but still. Buying a gift for her just seems sort of…"

"And it's logic like this that leads you to not get a welcome back gift for your boyfriend," Will said dryly. "At least he gave you lava cookies."

Nikita pouted, shooting him a glare.

"Misato isn't just a robot," Oscar repeated. "She's a Mechadoll. That means her processing ability is far higher than a robot's. She's a fully functional mechanical lifeform that is capable of learning and growing mentally. But things like wanting presents… those sorts of things shouldn't be part of her core programming…"

It was very curious. This was a discussion that he needed to have with Misato in person.

"Look, I mean, it's not like we're really going out or anything," Will clarified. Oscar's shocked expression clued him in on what he'd messed up with. Nowhere in that conversation had anyone mentioned that Will and Misato were going out, even if it was in a probationary sense.

"So you two are going out?" Oscar asked. He was learning far more about Misato from this conversation than she'd gotten from her all day while trying to put her body back together.

"No, didn't you hear me?" Will asked, turning red. "I said we're NOT going out."

Oscar stared at him suspiciously. Somehow, he didn't quite buy it.

Will scowled. "Look, it's just… look. I don't know if it's even possible for a Mechadoll to date. All I know is that she wants a crash course on what it means to be human, and that includes on the relationship side of things. So she asked me to be her practice partner. That's all there is to it."

Oscar considered that possibility and promptly dismissed it. If Misato wanted a date partner, then she could have asked Oscar. It would have been awkward, certainly, but possible. But she never raised the possibility with him. Instead, she'd turned to a first-year?

Even more unsettling was the fact that she didn't say anything about it to him. Part of his responsibility was looking after Misato and making sure that she was functioning properly. And that included things like her replicated emotional projections and the priority calculator she used to determine her course of action.

Even with those factors, Misato had been trying to hide something from him. That meant that she was either trying to conceal damage to her processor, or that her processor wasn't damaged and she had somehow determined that playing the role of "girlfriend" for Will would get her a step closer to her goal.

Oscar wasn't sure which of those ideas was more likely. Frankly, they both seemed problematic in their own ways.

The idea of a shy girl keeping the identity of her boyfriend a secret from her older brother flashed through his mind for a second, but he quickly dismissed it. Misato wouldn't think like that, right? She was wy more rational.

Nikita could see that a tense and awkward atmosphere was hanging over the room, so she desperately tried to change the subject.

"You said you came here for some replacement parts or something, right?" She asked quickly, putting up a false smile to try and show she was interested. Oscar saw through it immediately, of course, but he was just as happy to get the talk off Misato's confusing relationship with the boy standing in front of him.

Unfortunately, this wasn't quite changing the subject.

"Yes," Oscar said calmly. "Misato sustained serious damages during her fight in the Orre Region, and it's important that I make repairs."

Nikita's jaw dropped. "Seriously?! But we just saw her the other day! She seemed perfectly fine, no repairs needed!

"Yeah, I don't get it," Will agreed. "She seemed okay."

"Most of the damage she sustained was internal," Oscar clarified. "She covered over the extraneous surface damages with cloth and synthesized human tissue-

"Uh, yeah, didn't need to know that," Nikita said, shaking her head. She'd barely had anything to eat today and yet somehow she was feeling sick to her stomach.

"If she was so injured, then why did she come greet me at the dock?" Will asked. "That doesn't seem like a very smart move if you ask me."

"That's what confused me, too," Oscar nodded, which kind of miffed Will a little bit. "Normally, Misato should be prioritizing her body's needs, but in this instance, she risked the possibility of sustaining further damage, even as small a chance that was, because she wanted to go to the dock that day when you guys came back."

Oscar glanced directly into Will's eyes. "It seems she really wanted to see you just that badly."

Will didn't know how to process that. While it was true that Misato tended to do things that went contrary to what he believed the logical solution to be, at least there was some consistency in her actions. She would have some sort of bizarre justification for her actions.

"Did she say why she did it?" Nikita asked curiously, voicing the sentiment that Will had wanted to. "Because that doesn't seem like her at all."

Oscar shook his head. "No, it doesn't seem like her," he agreed. "At ALL. That's why I asked her why she did it."

"What did she say?" Will asked curiously. He didn't know why he was feeling so hopeful, but some part of him was actually really excited.

Oscar frowned. "After she told me that she wanted to see you as soon as you came back, I asked her why that was. She avoided the question."

Will had been shocked a lot in this conversation, but nothing was more shocking than what Oscar had just said.

"Seriously?" He shook his head in disbelief. "You have GOT to be joking."

"It's the truth," Oscar said. "She stated that the motivation behind her reasoning was no longer relevant and that responding to the question would have no benefit."

"So basically, she gave you the runaround?" Nikita asked, just as shocked as they were. "Can she even DO that?"

It sounded to Nikita like a computer refusing to enter your search results.

"If Misato believes there's a significant reason to keep something a secret, then she'll do it," Oscar said. "Even if she's asked point-blank. It's part of her dynamic programming."

"So there's a reason why she kept her motivation a secret, then, huh?" Will frowned. He really wanted to go have another conversation with Misato, soon. It was clear that Oscar seemed upset about what had just happened, and frankly?

So was he.

Misato was powerful, and her body was in no way fragile. But she still sustained damage. For something that was one of a kind, it didn't seem like the best plan.

"I don't know what's motivating Misato," Oscar admitted, holding up his palms in defeat. "I'm not a computer programmer. I'm just an engineer. The only thing I can do is repair her body when it breaks. All the stuff that went into her brain died with the original team of scientists who created her. All I can do is react to her and try to see her condition. But if there's something wrong with her processing system, that's not good. I really need to do something about that," he said, frowning.

"Are you sure there's anything wrong, though?" Will asked. It didn't seem right to go poking around in Misato's head without asking for permission.

"There's definitely something wrong," Nikita nodded. "The only way she would want you to be her practice boyfriend partner is if she had significant damage to her processing centers."

Will glared at her and she stuck out her tongue in response.

"Well, you've definitely given me a lot to think about," he said, frowning. "I guess I need to have a talk with Misato about this issue after all."

It wasn't going to go away. If anything, it was going to get more intense.

And Oscar hadn't decided whether or not that was a good thing yet.

Well, it looks like things are developing in an interesting way for Misato! It's a good thing they ran into Oscar in the store as well! Hopefully, the three of them will be able to combine their brains and see if there's anything wrong with her. At the same time, what about Reiner? What's going on with him? Is he doomed to just wander the hallways for eternity? Because that sounds brutal.