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The end of my world starts with a whisper on the quietest day of my life. A slight breeze carries the light scent of artificial sunlight and cleaning agents through the room.
I tilt my head back, basking in the warm light of the LEDs that mimic the sun. The painted concrete warms behind my back as I sit against the wall and enjoy the silence.
“Hey,” comes the voice of my constant companion. “Do you think that my dad’s actually balding?”
I open my eyes and squint into the light.
Kannazuka Yukina, the only child of the ever-elusive genius head of the Robotics Research Division of BELIFT Labs, my “best friend” and charge. On the outside, she seemed childish and willful. Her constant shopping sprees and mooning over attractive actors leads many, including myself, to dismiss her as an air-headed idiot who has defied natural selection (read: death due to completely avoidable factors if one has even the smallest amount of common sense) due to the incredible amount of money that her father spends to keep her safe.
That is the biggest, fattest lie. Academically, Yukina blows almost everyone else in our age group out of the water. She already has patents underneath her name. God didn’t even have the decency to nerf her. Me? I’m barely passing calculus. If she was allowed to apply to college, the top-ranked universities would salivate over her because of her transcript, extracurriculars, and internships. Even if all the internships she got were in BELIFT and because of her dad. Everyone knows that BELIFT doesn’t take high school interns unless they’re connected in some way to the top brass.
But her true passion isn’t in engineering, or chemistry, or physics. What Yukina loves more than anything in the world is dancing. The way she moves is hypnotic. I love watching her lessons and performances, how she seems to glow in the foggy reflection of the mirrors.
For the first few weeks as her guard, she attempted to get me to dance with her but I was never able to do it properly. She tried, I’ll give her that. It’s just that for all my combat ability, I have two left feet when it comes to everything else. I mean, I trip up and down the stairs every day. I’ve lived in this compound for the last three years.
At this point, my lack of coordination isn’t cute, it’s just pathetic. At least it helps sell my cover as her “best friend.” See, for all of her academic intelligence, Yukina isn’t the most observant person or lucky person. Somehow, she manages to miss moments when I report to my “father,” really the head of Yukina’s guard and my immediate superior, Jeon Jungkook, and genuinely thinks that Jungkook is actually my biological dad, even though we share absolutely nothing in common.
A soft plush rabbit making contact with the side of my head breaks me from my musings.
“Earth to idiot,” Yukina calls. “What’s going on in that massively oversized head of yours?”
I turn my head and stick my nose in the air with a comical sniff. “If your royal majesty really must know, I’m trying to remember what the answer was for the second to last problem on the calc test.”
Yukina snorts in disbelief.
“It was fifteen. And you didn’t answer my question.”
I blink. Where did she even get fifteen from? I got four.
“What question?”
“I asked you if you think that my dad’s actually going bald. Like, the last time I saw him, his hair looked fake. I’m not even joking. Y’know that guy from the cafeteria who drinks nothing but the mango smoothie?”
Nodding slowly, I try to recall the guy that she’s talking about.
“Yeah, well Dad’s hair looked blue-ish and plasticky like the time Mango Guy came to the cafeteria in full cosplay,” Yukina said, giving me a significant glance.
“Huh,” I responded, “you might be right.”
She is. Kannazuka Akira, the genius of BELIFT and Yukina’s beloved (if absent) father, according to the loudmouth on his security detail, has been slowly losing hair and is desperately trying to save what little of it that he has left. I don’t know why Loudmouth #1 decided to share this information with the entirety of the Kannazuka family’s human guards but it sure was funny.
As we snigger into our hands, a clear and piercing chime comes from the door.
“Delivery!”
Yukina groans as she gets up off of the couch and shoves her feet into her slippers. “Oh my god. Chill . I’m coming, I’m coming. Dude– ,” she whispers under her breath as the doorbell continues to ring.
I get up and walk behind her, curious to see what’s going on. A small crew of men set down several large boxes and one of them asks for Yukina’s signature on his clipboard before leaving.
Yukina smiles. “Oh hey, Dad sent this.” She counts the boxes before turning to me. “Mind helping me carry these in?”
I nod and attempt to lift one of the boxes. Key word: attempt.
“Dude. This is so heavy. What did your dad put in here?”
“I like how you’re asking me like I have any idea what goes through my dad’s balding head.”
Shaking my head, I begin to awkwardly wiggle the first box across the floor so I can drag it into Yukina’s set of rooms. The box is heavy, heavier than I can lift without hurting myself. I grunt as I tip the box enough to hoist it over the door frame.
Well, one box down. Three to go.
I wipe the sweat off my brow with the back of my hand as I survey the boxes, now inside Yukina’s living room. Standing up, they’re taller than I am and a little bit wider, too. Yukina managed to find one of those wheeled cart things that people use to carry boxes after I finished getting the first box inside her room. Thankfully, the cart made moving the rest of the boxes so much easier.
Thank God for whoever invented the wheel.
“All done. Wanna open them now?”
Yukina looks at me out of the corner of her eyes and flashes a quicksilver grin. “Hell yeah.”
She runs to the kitchen to grab two pairs of scissors and skids back into the room, narrowly avoiding a collision with the wall. After sliding one of the scissors to me across the floor, she gets to work cutting through the glossy packing tape.
I kneel on the opposite side of the box and cut through the tape on the side and top. I repeat the process with the other boxes. As I unfold the flaps of the first box, Yukina shrieks in surprise.
“Holy shit! Oh my God, what the hell,” she wheezes as she scrambles away to the couch. “Oh God, what is that?”
“What’s what,” I ask as I peer into the box.
Oh. Oh . What the fuck indeed. Why is there a body in the box?
Okay. Well, it’s not a body. Not a human body, anyway. Yukina’s dad just had the really bright idea of shipping four robots that apparently look like some strangely familiar guy to her doorstep without notice. Cool.
Not cool, actually. Slightly disturbing. Very weird. Extremely creepy.
“Should I get it out of the box? I feel like I should get it out of the box,” I say, staring at the robot.
Yukina nods shakily from the couch, making no move to get off. I guess I’m doing it alone then.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, disgusted.
Yukina looks at me and tilts her head in a silent question.
“It’s naked.”
After a moment of silence, I look back into the box. It isn’t actually naked. It has underwear on. If I’m gonna be honest, just the underwear and nothing else isn’t much better than naked. If whoever packed it in the box was willing to stick a pair of briefs on it, why couldn’t they just go the extra mile and give it actual clothing too? I kind of don’t want to see its chest and abs, no matter how sculpted they are. I mean, I appreciate the artwork but I feel like a pervert for seeing them, even unintentionally.
“Huh.”
I fall back on the ground, startled. I hadn’t noticed Yukina creep closer until she was literally breathing down my neck.
“Whaddya mean, ‘huh,’” I ask.
Yukina peers into the box from behind my shoulder and I feel her shaky exhale. Slowly, her trembling finger reaches out to poke the robot’s cheek.
“Oh.”
Her soft exclamation is surprised.
“It’s soft.”
My gaze follows her finger to see an indent, not unlike what poking an actual human cheek would look like. I feel a shiver run down my spine, a ghostly chill of water trickling down my back. This is completely new technology. No other robot has such a lifelike shell. There’s nothing like this on the market, no whispers of development, no gloating from rival companies. Nothing.
I look to Yukina. My horror isn’t mirrored on her face. Instead, she seems fascinated, eyes shiny in awe. Whatever disgust or fear she seemed to have melts away as her fingers begin to dance over the robot’s face.
Her hand gently traces its sharp jawline and runs through its dark hair. The pads of her fingers faintly skim over its nose and press lightly on its plush lips. Her mouth opens in surprise as she finds something behind its ear.
“It’s a button,” she tells me.
With a gentle click, Yukina presses the button and the robot comes to life. Its chest expands, as if simulating a breath. Dark eyelashes flutter as rich brown eyes open to the world.
“Hey.”
A deep and unfamiliar voice fills the silence of the room. Yukina and I look at each other and then turn to look at the robot, who has begun to sit up. Lean arms with corded muscle strain against the box as the robot struggles to free itself from its narrow confines.
As it wrenches an arm loose, the robot turns its head to look at us.
“Sorry for the late introduction. I’m NR04. Nice to meet ya.”
Yukina and I turn to look at each other again, this time in bewilderment. I did not expect an apology for any late introduction. As I wrack my brain for information about BELIFT standards for robot onlining, I come to the conclusion that again, this is completely new. Last year’s latest model, the WJ line, had only come with the industry-standard plastic shell and monotone greeting. The WJs had been programmed to slowly “warm up” to their owners but NR04’s friendliness startled me.
Other robots had been programmed to be friendly at the start too, but NR04 wasn’t just friendly, it seemed almost human. If I hadn’t known any better, if I hadn’t seen it in its delivery box, I would be fooled.
I cast a curious eye over NR04’s shell as it steps out of the box, looking for the seam lines where the different parts joined together. My eyes traced his joints, the most common places for seam lines. Weird. I saw nothing, only a smooth and unbroken expanse of shell. It looked so real, like actual skin.
“Uh, can you stop staring? I’m getting kinda uncomfortable.”
What. What the fuck. I dragged my eyes up to meet the robot’s awkward gaze.
“Oh. Sorry,” I responded numbly.
What the fuck is happening. Most robots—actually, scratch that. No robots have ever, in the history of the world, ever reacted like this. At least, not as far as I know. Oh sure, there are the odd few that’ve had their code modified by their owners but robots fresh off the manufacturing line generally don’t respond to prolonged staring like this. It’s…unsettling.
Yukina stands up and walks closer to the robot’s still form. She looks small next to it. I stand up too and step a little closer. I feel short.
The robot towers over both of us, probably standing around six feet tall. Yukina’s last doctor’s appointment had her at five feet and two inches. The last time I measured myself, I was about five feet and five inches. This robot is so ridiculously tall that it could look straight ahead and not see the tops of our heads.
I’d like to file a complaint to whoever drew up the blueprints for this thing.
NR04 looks around the room. Its eyes blink every few seconds, just like a real person. Its gaze lands on Yukina and it opens its disturbing realistic mouth to ask a question.
“Mind if I open this up?”
It gestured to a smaller box that lay nestled inside the bigger box that the robot had come in. What the hell. That was amazingly smooth. I don’t know much about robotics but there must’ve been a ridiculous amount of time and work put into making this model’s movements so even, without the strange jerking and stopping motions that characterized other robots.
“Go ahead,” Yukina shrugged. “Need scissors?”
She didn’t seem fazed at the robot’s actions. Its appearance had startled her at first but she adapted quickly. I find it kind of amazing how fast she seemed to slot this robot into what seemed to be a space between “human” and “robot.” Maybe she thinks of it as a sort of cyborg? I don’t know. Cyborgs are part human, part robot. This thing is all robot; cogs, gears, and all. I could hear the soft humming of its mechanical parts as it came online, like a quietly purring cat.
NR04 takes Yukina’s offer of scissors and sits down to open the small cardboard box. Inside is a smooth expanse of cloth.
“Nice. They gave me a shirt,” the robots hums in satisfaction. It lifts the shirt out of the box to reveal another piece of cloth. “Oh, sweet. I’ve got pants too.”
As confused and possibly dead inside as I am at this point, I can’t suppress the feeling of gladness that I wouldn’t have to see the robot walking around almost naked every time I was in Yukina’s rooms.
While the robot clothes itself, Yukina sets up the three other robots. They aren’t identical to NR04 but if they were human, it’d be obvious that they’re related. They share the same mouth but their noses differ in length and width. Their personalities are different too. NR01 is standoffish and just nodded at us in acknowledgement. NR03, a female model, smiled at Yukina and shook her hand softly before quietly asking if she needed help cleaning up. NR02, the last one to come online, didn’t say a word and wandered off to explore Yukina’s room. She didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
None of them show the same casual friendliness that NR04 had but they’re all unsettlingly human.
After the robots dress themselves, Yukina leads them on a tour of her rooms. While she shows them around, I set up their charging stations in one of Yukina’s spare rooms. Satisfied, I survey my work when I finish.
Four cushioned chairs with cables line one wall of the room for the robots to sit in overnight while they power down and charge for the next day. There’s a circular rug on the floor with abstract green and blue patterns. The walls are painted with flowers that Yukina and I had spent a few days working on last year. All in all, not exactly the most comfortable room but not the worst either.
Yukina, followed by the four robots, walks into the room just as I finish dragging the rug to the center of the room.
“And this is gonna be you guys’ charging room. I didn’t know that Dad was planning on delivering anything so we didn’t really set it up. Let us know what you guys would like and I’ll do my best to fix it up, okay?”
The robots murmur their assent and NR04 nods to me.
“Thanks for setting this up,” it says with a grin.
“No problem. Sorry if I made any mistakes with the wiring for the chairs. I’m not very familiar with electrical and mechanical stuff.”
NR03 smiles and assures me that it’s sure that I’ve done a wonderful job. I feel kind of bad now, referring to them as it. They still creep me out but they seem so human that I feel guilty.
I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around to look at NR02’s expressionless face. It– he points to himself and then points to one of the charging chairs. I’m guessing that he wants to check it out.
“Go ahead,” I shrug. “Set ‘em up for a reason, right?”
NR02 nods and sits on one of the chairs. He slides a panel out of alignment near where the funny bone would be on a human on his left arm and plugs in one of the wires to a port before repeating the process on his right arm. Turning to me, NR02 lifts both of his arms for a double thumbs up and inclines his head in thanks.
“No problem,” I respond. I’m lying. Those chairs were a pain to set up.
The rest of the robots take NR02’s approval as a sign to settle themselves on the remaining chairs and plug themselves in for the night.
I stretch and stand up, taking both my and Yukina’s plates to the sink. After rinsing off the plates, I slot them neatly into the dishrack to dry.
Yukina busies herself with refilling the napkin holder, wiping down the table, and pushing in the chairs.
Wiping my hands on the kitchen towel, I make my way back to the living room and plop down on the couch, exhausted. Yukina sits beside me and leans her head back. It’s been a busy day with a lot of physical activity. Although Yukina dances and I do martial arts, manual labor is not something that either of us are used to doing on a regular basis.
“Oh man,” Yukina groans. “I’m so tired. I’m gonna call it a night.”
I hum in agreement. “Yeah. Dude, I’m like, genuinely exhausted. Gonna go back to my room soon.”
Yukina laughs softly and drops her head onto my shoulder. She gently pats my arm before standing up and walking towards her room. My eyes follow her in bewilderment. Usually, she’s not so touchy. Weird.
She comes back and hands me a card. I raise an eyebrow, confused.
“Open it.”
“This isn’t an undying confession of your burning hot, all consuming, passionate love for me, is it,” I ask.
Her face scrunches in disgust as she reaches back for the card. “Never mind, I’m taking it back.”
“Nuh uh, you gave it to me. Can’t take it back, I taunt as I hold the card closer to my chest.
Yukina scowls and turns away, pouting. Smiling, I open up the card and lean back into the couch as I start reading.
Hey squirt, I know I haven’t been able to visit you lately.
What the fuck.
I guess you might be a little lonely without your old man around as much so I’ve sent you a few of my latest models. The NR line was kind of designed with you in mind, actually.
Ah. Ok. This wasn’t written by Yukina. It’s from her dad. So why is she showing it to me?
They’ll be kind of companions and bodyguards rolled into one. My lab was only responsible for the code and mechanisms this time so I don’t know if the shell is pretty or not.
Anyways, let me know what you think of them, okay? If you give one to your friend, I don’t mind. I guess sending four of the NRs to you might’ve been a little overkill.
I’m sorry for missing your recital. I’ll do my best to make it up to you and come to the next one.
Love you most,
Dad
“Uh, touching letter, I guess,” I say as I refold the card and hand it to Yukina. “Why’d you make me read it?”
Yukina smiles at me ominously. I don’t think I’m going to like where this is going, am I? Please don’t say you’re giving me one of the NRs. I don’t need one , I think furiously to myself.
“Dad said he wouldn’t mind if you took an NR, so I’m giving you NR04.”
Ah, fuck. I cursed myself.
“No thanks,” I say as I throw up my hands in defense, as if to ward off the absolutely evil vibes coming off of Yukina’s angelic smile. “I’m good. Don’t need one.”
“Aw, don’t say that,” Yukina exclaims with devilish joy. Her eyes light up with unholy glee as she senses my weakness.
I grimace faintly and avert my gaze. No luck. She sits on the couch and twists her head to force direct eye contact with me.
“Accept, accept, accept, accept,” she chants as she stares at me without blinking.
Mm. The bitter tang of defeat.
“Fine.”
Yukina squeals with delight and all traces of The Demon (read: cleverly disguised gremlin behavior) that lurks inside of her vanish.
“He should’ve charged enough by now. Why don’t you take him back to your rooms and get him set up?”
Sighing, I get up off of the couch and make my way back to Yukina’s spare room where the robots are charging. The lights flicker on as I step into the room. Yukina steps over to NR04’s charging chair and plugs her phone into a port behind his ear.
NR04’s eyes flicker open. “Oh. Yukina. What’s up?”
“Don’t mind me,” Yukina responds, eyes still focused on her phone. “I’m going to transfer your ownership to my friend here.”
NR04 looks at me, eyes wide in confusion.
I look back at him and sigh. “Wasn’t my idea but I’m not mad about it. It’s just gonna take some getting used to. I’ve never had a robot before.”
“Yeah, well. Guess I’m pretty good for a starter, huh?”
I smile. “Yeah. Guess you are.”
“Whew. That was a workout,” I groan.
NR04 follows me into my guest bedroom carrying the rest of the cables. He kneels down and plugs one of the cables into an outlet near the bed.
“All good,” he says, standing back up and stretching.
I sit down on the bed and pat the space next to me, inviting him to sit down.
“So, uh. Sorry I didn’t have anything set up. I wasn’t expecting you but I’m setting you up in the guest bedroom for now,” I say sheepishly, staring down at my hands.
NR04 leans back. “No sweat, man. Don’t even worry about it.”
He looks around, taking in the subtle lighting and running his fingers over the soft surface of the comforter. The walls are painted a gentle green and the gauzy white curtains gently brush the synthetic wooden flooring.
My eyes briefly meet NR04’s as he moves to lay down and plug himself in. I get off of the bed and move towards the door, careful not to trip over any of the wires still piled on the floor.
“Good night,” NR04 calls.
“Good night.”
I close my door quietly and slip underneath my blankets. The sheets are newly washed, crisp and cool.
The soft hum of the temperature control on my wall fills my room. I twist and turn in my bed, trying to find the most comfortable position to fall asleep in. My body twinges in protest as I turn the wrong way, reminding me of the rough day.
When I woke up this morning, I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary. Just a day with Yukina, maybe trying our hand at baking focaccia bread or drafting another design to paint on one of our walls.
Maybe having a robot won’t be so bad , I think to myself. NR04 seems nice enough .
With this final thought, I settle into my final position and close my eyes.
What a day.
In the other room, NR04’s eyes blink open, glowing with a soft golden light.