Let's Go!

“Um… I’m sure someone misses you, Purin-san… don’t you have any friends, or someone who admires you, or anything…? I’m sure that even if you don’t know it, you’ve probably got plenty of people who worry about you and your safety. And I’m sure you miss at least one person too, right?”

Maybe it was different for androids. Some of them didn’t really have families, right? But she was sure that there must be at least one person who cared about Purin enough to miss them while they were here. She thought back to everyone she missed. Mom, Dad, Jayce, Jo, even Allen… they must miss her too, right?

She looked over at the flickering lights of the district as Purin did, tilting her head a bit and staying quiet for a while, even after they had finished speaking. There was something she was suddenly curious about, something the android’s words had reminded her of.

Luckily, Adeline brought up another subject before they could formulate a response. This they decided was good, since they were starting to feel sad. And though the new topic wasn’t much better, at least they could think back to the sensation the virtual reality chair had created.

“It was about my talent! I had my job back as a stunt double and was really happy! It was short but sweet. It ended after the director sat ‘Action!’ and I jumped...”

They trailed off, grinning beneath their mask. After a few more moments of reminiscing, they glanced over at Adeline.

“Does he now? Then perhaps Ian would also enjoy the smell of electro-croutons, yes?”

They did not know if that pun translated well into the Japanese language, but they found it to be comical enough to try and implement it anyway. The petting continues, even as Purin gives her accusatory retort. Ah…right, she was expecting a reaction to her face, most likely. It didn’t bother E.L.L.A. much, quite honestly. They prided themselves in being more focused on emotional and physical behaviors than appearances.

Why was E.L.L.A insisting on avoiding the subject, though? Maybe it was their way of being nice, but Purin wasn’t having any of that. As they glowered at the other android, Ian Fleming happily did sheep things. At least he was content with his artificial appearance.

Finally, the stunt double spoke up.

“You have every right to be mean about it! After all, aren’t androids supposed to be prettier than organic people? Like, as a general rule? But I’m not cuter! I have a defect. Even though it’s not my fault, I still feel bad. People have made fun of me because of it before I came here... so there’s really nothing stopping you now.”

They paused, though didn’t seem to be finished.

“Yeah… I wonder. I mean… it does matter, what’s happening down there. Because… that probably affects what happens to us, up here. I mean… does anyone here know how to fly a spaceship? But, at the moment… you’re right— we have to worry about ourselves, and our… current situation.”

She looked up to the sky again, really taking in the stars, and looking up into the endless void that was space. They were just a minuscule spec in the Universe. That brought up a whole bunch of existential thoughts, things Adeline wasn’t quite up for thinking about at the moment.

“Say, Purin-san… do you have anyone that you miss back on Earth? I think… that it’s important to keep that in mind. Someone, or something, that we want to go back to.”

How melancholic this scene was. The sadness of the moment even got through to the dense Purin, who looked down at their shoes as Adeline wondered aloud.

Did they have anyone they missed? Their first instinct was to say no, but upon further thought...

“No! I mean, not exactly... um. Ufufu...”

They chuckled awkwardly as they considered the question. There was... who? Who waited for them back on Earth? Mayumi? Maybe. Broadcast Japan? Possibly. Their fanbase? Well, they hadn’t had much of one to begin with, being only a stunt double. And after the Hoshiko incident, they doubted they had any fans left.

“Adeline-chan, I don’t think anyone wants me to come back. My boss, Mayumi-san, probably just wants me back for the money. Same with the production studio. And... Juri Bando fans probably want me gone because I got actual Juri Bando, Hoshiko, fired. She’s probably glad I disappeared, too.”

They sighed, suddenly feeling weighed down by what could be called emotions.

“I guess I don’t wanna go home -- or even need to. Ufufufu, it’s silly Osamu-chan-- er, Hikaru-chan wanted to leave to restart his life. I understood his theory, but after thinking about it, I don’t think it would’ve worked. ...I guess I wish I could start over, too. Or at least go back to doing what I love.”

They shuffled to the edge of the promenade, looking down. How solemn it was to be talking about this here, in the deserted section of the city.

“It’s stupid, but if I wanted to, I could easily do stunts here. There’s no need to go back home to do them.”

“Not in every case, but in many. If someone keeps a locked box, it is only natural to want to know what it contains, no? People often find common knowledge… irrelevant. Uninteresting, perhaps. A bit of mystery can work to your advantage or disadvantage, depending on how you choose to spin it.”

She didn’t laugh, but she flashed a smile.

“There’s really no need to apologize, or to attempt to redeem me in the eyes of others. I killed a good person, and this is a natural reaction. But you are correct, I don’t think they really understand. She was never going to make it, and the alternatives were…”

Less pleasant than being knocked out and drifting away, forever. She shook her head. Whatever emotions she might have felt with regard to the murder, regret was far from one of them. What was done was done.

“Anyways, I would appreciate the company, should you wish to return. Dreams of any kind are always a topic of interest for me, and if someone is due for a bit of destruction, I might be able to give you some pointers. And please, don’t let the fact that I am only a program trouble you. I assure you, I still know many things.”

Something bothered the android, though.

"What makes you say she wouldn’t have survived anyway? Moe-chan was kinda stupid, yeah, but she was also really nice! She thought everyone here was really cool and meant well. Even Osamu-chan and you! Ufufufu... yeah...”

Nevertheless, they were beginning to feel uncomfortable in the presence of this virtual girl. Maybe it was because of her stare, or the big words she used, or even the fact that she had murdered a classmate (though Purin tried hard to not let that get to them).

“Well, I should probably get going. I have to meet, um, meet Takashi-chan for some food. Bye, Tsukiko-chan. It was nice talking to you. See you later!”

 And so they found themselves once again at the bistro. Admittedly, even with the warning of a sudden synthesized “baa”, they did not expect the sight of Purin maskless with an animatronic sheep companion to be what greeted them.

“…Ah, I suppose I am well, Purin. It seems that everyone is trying a new fashion today, no? At least from what I’ve seen of those passing by me.”

They look down at the electric sheep, quickly guessing it’s origins from the lotto store. They kneel down to give it a light pat, a frown stating to form on their face. 

They scowled as they inspected E.L.L.A’s new outfit. It was cute. Maybe they could help them pick out something to wear later. Something distracting, if the lack of the mask was going to be this uncomfortable. They missed their security blanket.

“I knew that. Ian Fleming just likes the smell of ranch dressing, okay. I knew he wasn’t able to eat it...”

Ian Fleming baaed some more. He was quite the talkative electric sheep, as Purin had (happily) found out.

“So are you going to say something mean or what?”

“Doing well? I suppose I am, for one no longer living. And you? I trust my death was not especially upsetting to anyone.”

It seemed, after all, that the murderer received the short end of the sympathy stick. The only person she knew of that had visited Hikaru had been Moe, and she knew better than anyone exactly what her fate had been. Whether Moe would have also chosen to visit her, had she not been killed, was an interesting thought to ponder.

Regardless, Purin was here. And if she sought aesthetic advice from a murderer that she believed was ‘sorta pretty,’ then that was what she would receive.

“If you speak of physical features, then my answer is no. Simply speaking, perfection is both boring and impossible to achieve. In addition, attempting to hide something often only serves to make it more evident. The best thing to do is to face the world as yourself, whole and imperfect. If someone thinks less of you for it, destroy them.”

"Wait, wait, hiding it makes it more obvious? I’ll... keep that in mind. But I don’t think I’ll destroy anyone. Unless they have it coming, of course! Ufufufufu!”

Their laughter faded out to a nervous smile. They were joking, of course, but would somebody as strange as Tsukiko get the message?

“Eheh, yeah… I’m just sort of… lost in thought. Just… wondering when we’ll get out of here, and how everyone back on Earth is doing… a lot has happened recently, huh?”

She leaned back on the rail, gaze once again falling over the dark city. The girl listened quietly, to Purin, and to the empty noise that the false wind carried. She could still smell her last perfume spray on herself, though it was rather faint. Maybe she’d refresh with something new, something that worked with her new outfit.

Adeline let out a sigh, playing with the hem on her new sleeve.

“Yeah… I’m pretty worried, myself. I mean… it would be understandable if it were a bit gritty, but this just looks… beaten and abandoned.”

Abandoned. That was the word she’d been thinking of, the perfect word to describe the feeling this place gave her. They weren’t abandoned, though… right? She didn’t have too much hope that help would come, and they were on the moon, after all. But… they weren’t simply stranded without another thought, were they? Surely someone back on Earth would be trying to get to them? Even just one person, wishing for their return?

After a moment, the stunt double nodded.

“I’ll say. It’s been really weird, huh? I never thought... well...”

Here they paused, began swaying from side to side thoughtfully.

“I never thought I’d see a real dead person -- at least, a dead person that I knew. But I have, so it really makes me wonder, does it really matter what’s happened on Earth? Especially when we’re up here, where our classmates are dying and everyone else seems to have wrecked the buildings and disappeared?”

Even if people on Earth were trying to get them home, they weren’t doing a very good job. And Purin didn’t particularly feel the need to go home... up until now, that is.

They had found the other two areas of Apollo Luna to be comforting and nicer than home was (especially when they thought about the chaos of their life on Earth). But this area... well, it made them feel unnerved. It reminded them that something was in fact wrong -- terribly, terribly wrong.

She couldn’t really call it waiting, per se. There was little feeling of the passage of time at all. The program boots up, and she appears. That was a good thing. She would have been bored. It irritated her, nonetheless. Just a bit. Some contact from the outside world was welcome.

She’d said quite a few things at the end of the trial, and while she was more than happy with what her last words had been, she had her doubts that the remaining students had really gotten the message. It was about time she got some visitors.

So she appeared, arms crossed, looking more like an impatient teenager than a convicted murderer.

“I assume you didn’t come just to say hello.”

So why Tsukiko?

Well, it was simple: they were feeling troubled. Nanase was the obvious choice to go to if she needed advice, but Tsukiko had witnessed so much more than he had. She had seen death, whereas Nanase never got a chance to. Did that make him lucky?

“Um, actually, I kinda did! I was wondering how you were, y’know, being... well.”

At least they kept tact in mind this time around. They paused, wondering what else they should say. As they breathed in and out, their mask filling with their warm breath, something occurred to them.

“Hey, Tsukiko-chan, you were always sorta pretty. Do you think people who have bad features should hide them?”

Adeline strolled over the promenade in the newly opened entertainment district, overlooking the lights flickering in the dark city below. She stopped about halfway across the bridge, leaning on the railing and letting out a deep sigh.

This new area worried her. It was all so empty. At least the commercial district was still clean, cheery, and bright… but this district gave Adeline a bit of a creepy feeling. It was pleasant walking among fancy shops on well-lit streets, but these streets were dark and chipped and gave off the feeling that something would jump at you from an alleyway. It reminded her vaguely of NYC, but at least there were people there, light and laughter, the babble of passing people and angry car horns. Here, there was nothing but quiet, darkness, and broken, flickering signs.

The most worrying part was the Stumble Inn. What had happened there…? Everything was so twisted and broken, mangled and destroyed. She’d barely taken more than a glance before she got an ominous feeling about the wreckage. It worried her terribly, indeed.

Adeline’s face was heavily contemplative as she gazed over the dark district, artificial wind blowing her new dress behind her. She thought about the ragged streets below, about Tsukiko and all that she’d said about fate, about her friends and family back on earth and how she wished she knew magic so she could make her life go back to how it used to be.

Her thoughts jumped from one to another, and she turned her head up to the stars above. The astronomy was so different than it was back on Earth. She thought again of her friends, of Jayce and Jo, of how they would stare through the telescope in their treehouse and talk about astronomy and astrology and how they’d all go to Apollo Luna and see how different they felt on the moon. Now Adeline was there.

The silence was beginning to get suffocating, so the small girl was glad when she heard someone else approaching. She turned quickly towards them, adjusting her hat and giving a sad looking smile. Had she been crying…? She hadn’t noticed. She wiped the tears she now realized were in her eyes before speaking.

The shadows of the entertainment district weren’t very comforting, either. It reminded the stunt double of a Juri Bando set, where bad things happened. They weren’t a super secret agent by any means, though, and for once felt weak as they trotted through the district.

They came to a stop when they saw Adeline. When the girl turned towards her, they smiled beneath their mask. They couldn’t see Adeline’s tears in the dark, but maybe it was for the best.

“Hi, Adeline-chan! Is everything okay? You seem kinda weird! But then again, I guess I’m seeming kinda weird too, ufufufu!”

They peered around the promenade, looking at all the buildings. They were silent for a few long seconds, before finally speaking up.

“It’s weird, though... this place looks so ugly compared to the other areas. It’s really rundown, too. I dunno what happened here... but something bad probably did. Aren’t entertainment districts supposed to be a lot more elegant?”

  1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3.. 1, 2, 3… Each breath she took was accented by a raggedness achieved by those beyond the state of hysterics. Regaining her composure, she looked around at her peers in a shared state of shock she was in. She wasn’t too sure whether she was sickened that one of their peers let their own filthy desires commandeered them to go to this extent or that.. that they’d let something of this nature occur.. twice.

  She hadn’t met the girl, but if anything, personal verdict said Moe Ito didn’t deserve this. Not at all. She looked around, walking over to one of her peers standing amongst them.

However, Purin was a bit occupied with staring in horror at Moe’s corpse to actually read Nikki’s mind. ...Not that they could to begin with.

When the girl spoke up, though, they looked over. She sure knew a thing or two about dying, didn’t she?

“Oh, but if that’s the case, wouldn’t Moe-chan be strong enough to ward off most attackers? She was really athletic and daring! So how did the murderer overpower her?”

That was surely another slip? In text there is visible proof of error, and he’s confident enough in his own voice to understand a whole, inappropriate sentence, but this sounded more like they bit their mask. The hypothesis was it must have occurred while taking in too much air while pronouncing the hard vowels in the name. Still no hypothesis on why they wore such a thing, though. Humans hadn’t cluttered the moon with pollution; not yet, anyways.

“Uh, nope! I’m sure my being tired is obvious. I’m just hungry is all. Last night, did not leave me in a very good state. But that’s in the past, and we need to continue on. I, personally, will not be falling victim to some orders given by a… floating toaster.” He quickly ran inventory on a catalog of various appliances in his head, but it’s jumbled nature left him without an accurate one. His insult was childish, yes, but does that robot deserve anything better?

The answer is no, it absolutely does not. Speaking of robots trying to prove something, Purin managed to break the smile with her proposition.

“Hmmmm.” Takashi was not his brother. Tatsuru would undoubtedly agree, cutting Purin off to do so, in fact, without questioning the abilities of the android. Then again, Tatsuru would also undoubtedly win in this scenario. Purin came from a rather athletic talent, and even though androids can not build up muscles, they do learn. Takashi himself was hungry, tired, and overall not operating at his full potential. This fight should not be fought unfairly, but the alternative is to use an excuse and lose pride. If the fight is lost, then he loses even more. To avoid was the absolute, dominant strategy.

But it wouldn’t be very human in nature to just accept that, would it?

“It seems you’ll just deflect every pacifistic comment I make to try and change the subject, to try and be nice, but if you want to arm wrestle… then fine.” He removed his coat and draped it over the chair, to reveal a rather impressive build of muscles. The wetsuit made them all the more defined. There was no six-pack, or blocky chest, (to be musclebound was practically a sin) but Takashi kept maintained for years what he considered to be the perfect balance of strength and agility. Plus, he liked the way it looked in the mirror. The boy flexed proudly in front of himself before slamming his elbow on a nearby table.

Purin grinned deviously when he accepted their offer. Surely they were giong to win! They were an athlete from the stat and had since picked up how to take blows and give them.

They jumped to their feet and skittered over so they were directly across from him, the table between them. Strangely enough, they didn’t comment on Takashi’s wetsuit get up. They were focused on victory. The table was their stage and despite there being no audience, Purin knew how to perform. And besides, their pride was at stake!

“Get ready to lose, Tortilla-chan!”

(Because while ‘Kowai’ and ‘Kawaii’ weren’t allowed, he had yet to ban various food nicknames.)

They grabbed Takashi’s hand and the match began. Whether it lasted a mere seconds or a minute was unimportant in Purin’s mind. All that matters is that, by the end of it, they actually won! Wait...

They lost?!

“How... how...?”

They were at a loss for words. Takashi Koiwai had crushed Purin in an arm wrestling competition. They temporarily forgot the only penalty was sharing the secrets they got first, and instead opted for releasing Takashi’s hand, straightening up, and slamming their own hands down on the table.

“That’s not fair! You cheated or something. It was obvious you were, too!”

They marched around the table and sized Takashi up. He was decidedly taller than they were -- almost by a foot. That’d be no problem. What was really disconcerting was that he was strong enough to beat them in an arm wrestling competition.

Well, might as well go for it.