Ultimate Robot

He considered it for a moment, but then sat down on the chair offered to him. It was probably Kiibo’s way of being polite, so he’d feel bad to ignore it, especially in these rather… Tense circumstances. He’s seen quite some death, so frankly, he’s used to it, but even then… That doesn’t make it any more normal.

He leaned his elbow on his own leg, and listened as patiently as he could to Kiibo’s retelling of the events, giving a small nod every now and then to signify he was, in fact, listening to what Kiibo told him, and trying to store the voice Kiibo had recorded to his own memory as well. He doubted he could replicate it so flawlessly as Kiibo had, but at the very least, he wanted to be able to… Recognise it, lest he ever hear it. The fact Kiibo lived meant that he probably wouldn’t need to act on it, however.

… Probably.

“An electromagnetic wave from a megaphone..?”

It’s not that he doubted Kiibo- he was a robot, so while he may not understand social nuances or the atmosphere very well, but he was pretty good when it came to memorisation and facts. It’s just… A weird sentence to hear. He could ask about it later, because, clearly, this wasn’t the whole story yet- after all, they’d only gotten to the part where Kiibo was dancing. Embarassing it may have been, but it sure isn’t death, so there must’ve been something more to this story.

“It’s not so strange to want to forget about things, both embarassing and… Traumatising.

But in the end, none of us can, and really, we shouldn’t. That’s like running away. Regardless… Please continue, since this story still doesn’t sound complete to me.”

Hoshi was right. Trying to forget bad memories would be like running away from them. Kiibo knew this, but he did envy humans a little because their memories would lose details over time while his memories would forever stay a perfect recording of the events which had transpired. 

“Pink, you say?” Rantarou mused aloud, humming while searching for a pink scarf. “Solid color or checkered? Actually…” He picks out the two from the display and holds them up for Kiibo to see both. “There’s another one there, but it’s for winter wear.” Putting both scarves in one hand, he reached out for the third one; compared to the others that were meant for regular day-to-day wear, this one was woolly.

“There are different shades of pink on them, but they would all go fine with your color scheme. I’d say the solid pink one would make your blue eyes stand out most, though.” He glanced between the three items in his hands, then looked at Kiibo. In the end, the decision would be his alone, but if Rantarou can help in any other way by offering advice, then he’ll do his best to provide it.

“You are something else, aren’t you Kiibo-kun? I admit I’m impressed with the things you tell me sometimes.” The other truly was worthy to hold the title of Ultimate Robot, being a creation that surpasses the expectations of most. Even then, he was much more than a simple robot with an intricate A.I system; Kiibo was just as unique as every other person out there, making him irreplaceable. “Alright, though. Since you asked so nicely, I’ll tell you.”

“Listen here, Kiibo-kun. If anything I say becomes too much, you can tell me to stop. I won’t hold it against you, okay?” The chances for things to get awkward for Kiibo might be higher than Rantarou himself feeling like that. Nonetheless, he’d prefer to remain on the safe side and thus, the adventurer takes a moment to carefully consider his words. “I’m sure you know that one of the ways in which we show affection is through kissing, correct? Well… Let’s just say kissing isn’t restricted just to the lips, cheeks or one’s forehead.”

There was a lot Kiibo could learn from Amami when it came to picking clothes. As such Kiibo listened carefully to what Amami had to say and nodding along to all the knowledge the fashionista was willing to share.

“I trust your judgement, Amami-kun. If you say the solid pink would make my eyes stand out then I would like to see how it looks on me.” 

Kiibo took said scarf from Amami and walked up to a mirror in the store. He attempted to wrap the scarf around his collar but he felt slightly self-conscious about how messy it ended up looking. Having no experience with scarfs or wearing clothes in general, he wasn’t quite sure how he could make it look good. 

“Mm...” Averting Amami’s gaze in the mirror, Kiibo used the scarf to hide the blush on his face. “How should I wear this?”

Surprisingly enough the blush on Kiibo’s face was no more once Amami started talking about kissing. There was no reason for Kiibo to be embarrassed about this because Amami just so happened to be talking about something he already knew!

Frankly, to have Kiibo claim so loudly that not only was Ryoma wrong, it would also apparently in fact be a bad thing if something did happen to him, was surprising, to say the least.

Huh.

Well, once he thinks it over… It’s not so strange Kiibo feels and thinks that way towards Ryoma- he feels this way towards all his classmates, after all. Whether he was programmed that way or developed that way, he seemed to feel that anything happening to anyone was a bad thing.

… He clearly can’t tell yet, huh? How different situations apply to different people, how if something happened to someone else, it’d be drastically worse than if something happened to Ryoma. It’s only a matter of time until he realises, people like himself aren’t worth going through such trouble for.

“There’s no need for the dramatics. It’s quite alright. I doubt anything will happen here- and if it did, it’s really not so bad.”

Though, to turn down the offer for help would be quite impolite. Again… He doesn’t want to encourage Kiibo to spend time with him. Quite the contrary, in fact. He can only be a bad influence, a source or pain and trouble- someone as naive and easily tricked as Kiibo shouldn’t be in such an environment.

“You really don’t have to, but I suppose it’ll prevent the sheep from getting on my case, so if you have any information on how to fix a door, I’m all ears.

First things first, however. The power strip. I think that store over there is a hardware store?”

“You shouldn’t say such things, Hoshi-kun. If something were to happen to you I would be very sad...” 

Kiibo would protect Hoshi this time. There had been so many times Kiibo had felt powerless to do anything, but things were different now. He knew what was bothering Hoshi so much. 

The reason Hoshi had been willing to let himself be killed had been his motive video. Kiibo couldn’t imagine what that was like to have no reason to keep on living, but that didn’t matter. He just had to give Hoshi a reason, did he not? That was easier said than done. Still, Kiibo was stubborn and wouldn’t be giving up on this easily. For now, he decided the most he could do was getting to know Hoshi better.

“Hardware store located,” Kiibo said as he made a beeline for it, but not before attempting to take Hoshi along. The height difference between them was too big for Kiiboo to be able to reach Hoshi’s hand so he gently placed a hand on his back instead. 

A lot has happened..? Well, Kiibo wasn’t wrong there, really. Even if just going up to their arrival here, a whole lot had transpired. Let alone counting all the things within this city; and then, this, too.

“… Shot amidst the confusion over a misunderstanding..?” that was a rather out-there way to end up nearly dying. Then again, someone trying to end the life of another, that wasn’t an event that very often went about without a lot going on beforehand and during.

Still, that must’ve been a rather big misunderstanding. They’ve all seen misunderstandings lead to death before, so it wasn’t that strange to Ryoma, but that one had been pretty dire back then as well.

“… If you don’t mind, could you tell me what happened?”

He knew he was asking for quite a lot. It surely can’t haven been pleasant to experience, so to be asked to talk about it-

It might even be selfish. It’s not like he talks about it, either, right..?

“You don’t have to, of course.”

“Yes, certainly. If you wish for me to explain what happened then I will, but first...” 

Kiibo grabbed two folding chairs which had been leaning against a wall and placed them in the middle of his temporary room across from each other. He sat down on one, closed his legs and straightened his back before pointing at the other chair with his hand. 

“Please, take a seat.” Kiibo was beaming then, happy to have a friend over and to be offering them a place to sit. Of course, it didn’t register with Kiibo that a folding chair wasn’t very comfortable and thus not as impressive as he was making it seem it was. “I will now tell you what happened.”

“The day I got shot started like any other. I had set out to explore the city when a person with a megaphone told me--” Kiibo quickly found the recording he was looking for and “spoke” with Byakuya’s voice. “Tell me your objective, robot. Paying this public act of robophobia no mind, I explained to the stranger that I was looking into the possibility of charging at a public charging point in times of dire need.” 

Kiibo nodded to himself. His ability to remember things in perfect detail was quite impressive, even if he said so himself. Then again, sometimes he did wish he could forget things. The things he had to explain to Hoshi next were rather unpleasant. 

Lost in thought, it took Yusuke until post-name giving to realize someone was talking to him.  Turning to face the sound of the strangely familiar sounding voice,  he found himself face to face (until otherwise said out loud that he was probably shorter than Kiibo) with a……..stranger?  

“Model.. what?”  Literally.  Model? What???  Hold the phone.  Was this guy………………. a robot?

That made no sense.  Robots were works of fiction, science fiction really was starting to feel like a new craze.  But this guy certainly looked like… a robot.  “Uh—” what was he doing again? “I’m sorry… what?”

As a matter of fact, the other was about 25cm taller than Kiibo. How’s the weather up there? Kiibo would like to know.

“I apologize. My presence seems to be a great source of distress for you. I mean you no harm.”

By now Kiibo had gotten used to people being shocked by his existence. He was a one of a kind robot and he was proud of that fact. Still, it was a little disheartening to always have to win people’s trust over before he was able to hold normal everyday conversations with them. 

Does anybody need that many electrical appliances in their room..? What had he put in there, like five lamps?

Well, at least he understood that having to stand on your hands to charge yourself just to make sure you don’t stop functioning throughout the day was less than ideal. If a power strip was what he figured he needed… Well, at least he could try and direct Kiibo in the right direction.

“… There was an angry ram delivering a reply to my earlier letter and he kicked out my door.”

When he speaks it out loud, it seems like something he made up on the spot. Thing was, he hadn’t. He’d very much gotten a letter by an angry ram that kicked in his door, after which the letter told him there were bananas under his bed if he got hungry (there had been bananas under his bed indeed). It was odd.

“… I’m not too worried about not having a door, to be honest. Nothing that’d happen to me would really matter- but I suppose I’m probably not supposed to leave my door broken for too long, so I’ll see what I can do.”

He’s no carpenter, that’s for sure, but he’s got a head on his shoulders with which he can think, and he’s alright in this kind of stuff, he supposes. 

“I’ll need new hinges, I think those were busted out. I’ll see how far I get.”

“An angry ram...” 

Kiibo believed Hoshi. If something as crazy as people coming back from the dead was business as usual in Stella City, then Kiibo didn’t doubt that there was an angry ram delivering letters here as well. 

“That statement is false!” Kiibo shouted, pointing his finger at Hoshi to strengthen his words. “If something bad were to happen to you that would be terrible. I won’t allow it! We will fix your door together. I will see to it that you stay safe until then.”

Patience is a virtue well worth having, Rantarou knows this much; being the one to the care of a large number of siblings, he’d know this best of all. As a result, his reward comes in the form of Kiibo accepting to go search for a clothing article – precisely, an accessory, but this was something on which they could build over time. No matter how small this step taken had been, it remained important.

“I’d be glad to help you pick out one. Do you have a favorite color? Or a few, that works too.” Passing through the various rows of clothing articles, Rantarou paces towards the front, where a couple of scarves are hung up on display. There’s a decent variety to pick from, both in color, pattern and even thickness, so Kiibo would have a good place to start.

However, a problem presents itself, one which Rantarou brought onto himself. Kiibo shows childlike curiosity, eagerness to learn anything that is new – of course, this was not something that textbooks could provide. It was a matter of personal experience and the adventurer had sufficient amounts of it.

“Kiibo-kun, are you sure you want me to answer?” He asks while passing his hand over a few scarves, checking them out. “I don’t mind telling you, but I doubt the info will be helpful. Besides, it’s a little intimate too.”

“Oh! Pink! Pink is my favourite colour,” Kiibo beamed, being more than happy to share information about himself. There was a smile on his face as he followed after Amami. Kiibo was grateful to Amami that he wanted to help him but even more so than that he seemed to be looking forward to Amami asking him more questions. 

“Intimate?” Kiibo repeated, his voice betraying that he hadn’t expected Amami to bring up such a topic all of a sudden. He thought to himself for a moment and then continued.