[Multi-chapter] Kimi no koe ga boku wo yonderu (1/7)
Title: Kimi no koe ga boku wo yonderu (Your voice is calling me)
Author: tsuchi8562
Beta: andreja1989 <-- Thank you so very much!
Pairing: SakurAiba
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, Sci-fi (?!), Romance
Disclaimer: I don't owe anything except one tiny screw...
*MASTERPOST*
The day was incredibly hot, without any air movement; you could only dream about the rain. To complete this pathetic picture, the air conditioning suddenly stopped working in the whole building and because it was Friday’s afternoon nobody wanted to fix it. Fortunately it was weekend, unfortunately report won’t write itself. Fortunately he will be alone in his office, unfortunately he will have to come here instead of staying at home.
Sakurai Sho, thirty years old English teacher at Keio University, sighed and closed his laptop. That’s it! He has enough already! How can he focus on work in this lethal heat? All he needed was cold shower and a nice green jasmine tea before sleep. The man came out of the building and sighed again. The evening didn’t make air cooler, it was still stuffy and probably there will be a storm at night. Fortunately it could rain… Whatever the night will be, the teacher hoped that tomorrow will be cooler, even just a tiny bit.
The car didn’t want to start at first, as always but finally Sakurai could hear the coughing sound of the engine and he headed straight to his home, dreaming about cold shower and relaxing evening with a book in his hand.
The way back was quick and with only one small unpleasant adventure (some cullet on the bridge but fortunately nothing bad happened). Ultimately he reached his home; the light was on, all windows were open and that could mean only one thing: his friends were inside, probably drinking all of the beer he had in the fridge. He liked them, of course he did but somehow those three were acting too freely in his apartment. They even had keys to his home; he didn’t mind it though. They were his friends after all, and they trust each other to the maximum. All four of them knew each other since high school but their professional paths went in different direction. Sakurai started to study English literature and soon he wanted to become a teacher on his Alma Mater. Because of his hard work, he managed to reach his dream and now he was living happy, peaceful and calm life.
Matsumoto Jun, the youngest of them, was scouted in the last grade by some eccentric agent and become a model. He even went to Milan for some classy fashion show but unfortunately his career ended before it even started and now he was the owner of one of the most exclusive boutiques in Shibuya.
Ninomiya Kazunari always was interested in electronic gadgets and video games, testing new portable game consoles and computers, exploring the market. Thanks to him all of them had the newest cell phones even before they were released. It was really comfortable and convenient to have that kind of friend but somehow the number of cell phones and other gadgets in Sho’s drawer increased in a mad pace.
Last, but not least, Ohno Satoshi - the heir of a bakery, which belong to his grandfather. He was the oldest of them and he really cared about their stomachs, bringing fresh bread (especially melon bread, which Nino loved the most). A bit clumsy and sleepy most of the time, becoming more energetic when somebody was talking about bread or fishing. Soon all friends accustomed to the fact that Ohno likes everything as long as it has something to do with fishes.
All of them were really close, hanging out as often as they could, sometimes regarding their work. That’s why Sakurai just went in, without a word, sat on the floor and took the beer that was handed by Jun. It took him a while to notice huge, silver metal box that was standing under the window.
“What’s that?” Sho asked with curiosity. When nobody answered him, he repeated the question, this time louder. “I asked you a question, what’s that??”
“This is a little birthday present from us…”
“Birthday present?! My birthday is in January and we have June!”
“A little early or late birthday present…? Stop whining, just open it!” Jun was hyped, and pushed Sho towards the box. The hutch was enormous with some strange logo on it. The cover was heavy, and it took the teacher quite long time to open it and when he finally managed to do that, he jumped few feet back with fear written on his face and he released a little squeal. Did he see this clearly? What the heck was that?! Sakurai slowly came close to the box again and looked inside it one more time. There was a big human shaped object inside, lying without any motion in embryonic position. Sho gently reached out his hand and touched it, just to feel cold under his fingers and he shut the case quickly.
“What the hell is that?! A dead body?! Why did you bring it in here?! And what’s that stupid story about birthday present?!”
“Easy, Sho-kun!” Jun said with smile. “It’s a robot. Android! It supposes to help you in house works, at least that’s what the brat says…”
“Hey, watch it, diva!” Ninomiya pointed at Matsumoto with scary face and quickly changed his tone. “It’s a robot but he acts like a human. He is programmed as a house keeper, he cleans, cooks, repairs stuff and so on… Looking at your apartment I thought that you may need it… It’s quite a mess most of the time…”
“Hey! I clean!” The teacher pouted and looked at the chest suspiciously. Robot, huh? Knowing Kazunari it was some kind of top secret prototype and he had to test it. Probably perspective of living with a machine was really inconvenient, so he just gave him to Sakurai. It was really strange and weird, especially when you could only hear about robots in science fiction movies. Sho didn’t have any idea what to do with this rare present, so he just mumbled simple ‘thank you’ and still, glancing from time to time on the box he was drinking his beer peacefully, chatting with his friends.
“You didn’t say anything about the present… You don’t like it?” Ninomiya asked finally somewhere between random chat.
“It’s not that I don’t like it… I just don’t know what to do with it. It’s not a book or a laptop…”
“It’s a computer. Big one, with unusual shape, but still a computer.”
“Tell me where did you get it! I know that you didn’t make it, you’re not smart enough!” Sakurai started to bully Kazunari a bit.
“Listen, Mister Chipmunk! The thing is that I helped in creating it! The main creator was my dear friend, Namikiri Gaku. I just improved it a bit… Visually… Oh, one more thing… Before you will turn him on, read the manual. It’s large, but also important. I don’t want you to destroy prototype 2412. If anything happens I’ll be dead! In case of emergency call this number. Gaku-chan will help you.” Nino drank a big gulp of beer, asked the host if he has tequila, winking to Jun.
“No way! I won’t stick my fingers to your throat again!” Matsumoto hid his hands behind his back and sticking out his tongue. This very cute scene distracted everybody’s attention from the giant box. Soon their laughs fill in the room but unfortunately their spontaneous party has to be over and Sho was left alone. The room was one big mess with bottles, glasses and leftovers on the floor; heat and alcohol in his veins didn’t give him any willingness to clean, so he just crammed everything on one side, beside the box and got lost in his own thoughts.
Prototype 2412, huh? A robot that helps clean, cook and generally in house works? It truly can be very helpful but on the other hand it can be troublesome. What about the power and repairs? Oh, yes… Mysterious Namikiri-san, whoever he is… But who will pay for it? He is only poor teacher and spare parts are surely very expensive… Should he turn it on in the first place? Those questions gave him a present in a form of slight headache. Holding the thick manual in his hand he went to bed, trying to focus on the job that waits for him tomorrow.
***
The morning was hard, mostly because dark clouds tried to hide the sun. Heavy rain was pouring and the sky was cut by lightening every now and then. To make the day even more perfect, the headache increased probably because of reading that idiotic manual before sleep. He didn’t manage to read even half of it; the language was difficult and it seemed that this robot has many different functions… Will Sho be able to learn all of them? One question came back: does he need it in the first place? Still, the Kazunari’s reasons left unclear. But that doesn’t matter. The most important thing was that he has big box with housekeeping android in his living room; that he can use but he needs to be careful and not to destroy it. That’s practically it.
Sakurai sighed, standing over the chest (for the nth time) and opened it slowly. He was prepared for the view, so this time he gently removed the bubble wrap and took the robot out. It was really heavy but somehow the chest formation made it easier for him to remove him from the case. The robot was dressed in some kind of grey overalls and looked like peacefully sleeping man. Sho felt really strange to stare at him like that so he decided to turn on his gift.
The manual said that all he needs to do is to push the button, hidden in robot’s hair and say few words; the android responds only the voice of the first person that will speak to him. The teacher coughed few times, found and pushed the button and said randomly:
“One, two three… Can you hear me?” That made him feel even more strange, so he whispered. “No use… It won’t react on that stupid sentence!”
Suddenly Sakurai could hear some quiet mechanical sound and the robot stood up, looking around. It was about the same height as Sho, maybe a bit taller, with black hair, almond eyes and full lips. Yes, that just has to be Nino’s part in that opus - the visual side he was talking about. While the teacher was lost in thoughts like that prototype 2412 smiled gently and asked with its surprisingly not mechanical voice:
“What is your name, sir?”
“S-sakurai Sho… Nice to meet you…” he added unconsciously. He didn’t know how to act in front of his present; Nino said that this is just a simple computer… But simple computers don’t talk, walk and clean!
“I’m prototype 2412. Nice to meet you.” The robot answered and almost immediately started to clean the mess after the party. His movements were fast and even he didn’t know the location of the most crucial chambers in the apartment, it took him just a while. The flat was clean as never in no-time, and the robot sat near his box, looking at the floor with his arms holding his knees. Sakurai started to worry a bit but when he reached for the manual he read there that it’s normal - his android is just charging; probably it was turn off for a quite long time. Fortunately to Sho it didn’t need any external power sources, so he can be calm in the electricity bills’ matters. The teacher looked at the watch and cursed. He was already late for work, not mentioning that he has to write very important report from recent meeting with dean of his faculty. He quickly ran out the apartment leaving robot by itself, wondering on the way that probably he should give him a name. Calling him the prototype 2412 will be troublesome… But he will leave that matter on some other occasion.