💜Mystic Fox💚

The year went fast as a long harsh winter drug on like a snail’s pace. I was walking home from work like usual, and lost in my thoughts, this one being, mostly what if. I stare around at the dark, empty streets, being late at night. I see the local convenience store’s pale yellow light almost like a beacon to guide a ship to shore. I enter, just buying some light snacks and candy to hold me over until I return home. Taking a sip of my milkshake, I began to walk out behind the store behind the dumpster, a shortcut if you will. I sigh, the heavy feeling of loneliness like an ankle weight on my psyche. As I walked, I saw…something. Beside a dumpster set for morning pickup by a park, I see this heap of trash. Nothing out of the ordinary, leaves, paper food trays, various trash bags of unattractive colors, and hidden beneath the fresh fallen snow…my heart leapt in my throat. What I saw made my blood chill.

Lying in the snow…I saw a human hand. I knelt down, to feel for a pulse. Feeling nothing, it sent a frigid feeling through me. Who could do such a thing? Leaving a body to rot? I began to feel scared, and curiosity burned me as I brushed off the snow with a nearby newspaper. There laying prone on the sidewalk…was a curled up humanoid figure. Long, messy violet hair and a look of sad serenity on his face. Seeing the duct tape around his legs and arms, he looked pitifully helpless. I could see hidden beneath the snow, a rusted, and beyond repair katana laying in his arms as he lay nude. His skin looked patchy in places, and dry rot on his neck and shoulders. 

Aside from the thunder of anxiety in my chest, I study him. He was…beautiful. With a pang of guilt and sadness, I began to think. Maybe he was a victim of the mob and left to die out here. Poor thing. I made sure no one was around, gently brushing the snow off his face, and my heart broke in two. I knew that face anywhere: Gakupo Kamui. He was once a famous Vocaloid. Now…thrown in the trash like a broken toy. 

I whispered softly to him, “I’m so sorry, Gakupo…”

Pushing aside the trash surrounding him, I tried picking him up, as carefully as I could. He was a lot…heavier than I had thought. When I got back up, I see a small zip drive flop out of his hand. A small purple flash drive with an eggplant on it. Strangely enough, it looked…important. I know its frowned upon digging through trash but this I could’t ignore.

When I got home, I placed Gakupo in the bathtub. Cleaning him up as best I could, I took a washcloth to his face. He looked so sad…I wonder why. Peeling off the duct tape, I see some dead leaves and paper clinging to him as I try to get him as clean as possible. With a sigh of relief, I studied him some more, his pose in the fetal position making him appear so vulnerable, but I know its a protective pose. I swallow, and carrying him to the couch, I pull out the zip drive from my pocket. This is weird. Why did he have this?

Curious, I pull from my desk a junk laptop. Inserting the drive into the USB, I boot up the computer. Then I realized, the only file on it was an installation wizard for…something. I wondered what it was. Making sure my antivirus was on, I check the files. Suddenly, I see an installation window pop up.

“INSTALLING GAKPOID AI SOFTWARE: THANK YOU FOR YOUR PURCHASE. PLEASE WAIT…”

This is stupid I thought, watching the installation bar slowly creep across the screen. Setting the laptop back on my desk, I turn on the TV to drown out the silence.

When I got home from work the next day, I return home as fast as I could. When I come through the door, the first thing I did was check on Gakupo. He lay still as a rock, as I could feel my heart sink. Maybe he was junk after all. I went back to the computer to find the battery had died. Must of forgot to plug it in last night. Oh well, better plug it in. 

The moment the plug was inside the wall, I could hear…breathing. I look over to see Gakupo…breathing. I had done it! With an understandable amount of joy, fright and confusion I approach the computer again:

INSTALLATION COMPLETE! YOU MAY CLOSE THIS WINDOW.

I hit the little X button on the window, feeling nervous. I approach Gakupo, and as still as he was I didn’t know what to think. I go to touch his cheek…it feels…warmer. I smile, as I patted his hair. 

His eyes shot open and looked me right into my own. He tilted his head at me, and a soft “Hm?” came from his lips. His eyes glowed like digital portholes into his purely robotic soul.

“Uh…hi…” I began. I sat in silence watching him observe his surroundings, like a newborn child. 

Feeling modest, I wrap the blanket on the back of the sofa around him for decency. 

He seemed happy with it, asking him,

“You…you seem to be okay. How are you? Can you see me?”

Crap…maybe he can’t understand english, I thought.

Picking more leaves out of his hair, he giggles, his sweet expression giving me palpitations. 

I smile as he hugged me tightly. I could feel his metal bones and silicone skin replicate his flesh if he were human. He felt warm and he was actually a lot more gentle thank I had anticipated.