[Ch. I] Happy to LIVE

After what seems like an eternity, I blinked three times in succession and saw colors.

My body felt heavy. Did something fell on top of me? Or was someone sitting on me?

As if that can happen.

Disappointed, I leaked out a pitiful groan. After struggling with my inner thoughts of “just 5 more minutes”, I gritted my teeth and threw off the covers.

The sunlight peeking through the closed blinds was bright enough for me to see where I was.

And the first thing my eyes rested on was her.

A cute childish face with a captivating smile. Flowing hair that blankets the shoulders and chest. A delicate body sitting on a throne and hands folded together on a flowing dress only amplified my thought of “a beautiful angel is praying for me”.

But something felt off.

It’s not because an uninvited goddess is in my room. Or that I, Akira Nanahara, was alone with a girl in a dark room.

Rather, she’s too still. I couldn’t tell if she’s breathing.

Maybe angels don’t breathe?

I crept closer, being careful not to wake her. My feet were padded with socks, so I shouldn’t be able to make walking noises unless I bumped into things.

Without any accidents along the way, I flipped the switch next to a desk and winced at the sudden brightness. I stared at the girl, expecting her to jump up and do something weird like hugging me.

Ha, that wouldn’t happen either, I’ve been reading too many novels.

I smiled at my rambling thoughts and turned my attention back to the sitting girl.

But she didn’t open her eyes. She didn’t even stir at the light.

She’s… pretty. Pretty creepy...

It wasn’t because of the unnatural stillness of her Golden Ratio figure or the delicate features on her face. It’s not how she was sitting or her idol-like outfit that was making me shiver.

It was the cables dangling into her neck. A blue CAT-6 network cable, standard 80W power cable, and two pairs of green and red wires that screamed “Danger!”. I followed the cables and after a closer inspection found that the wires are connected to the flat box on the desk.

I powered on the paper-thin monitors. Unlike the systems of yesteryears, it booted up in a second. An “S” unfolded and the logo was struck by lightning. Upon scanning my eyes and my face, it unlocked and opened an IDE preloaded with code.

I leaned back into the comfortable office chair and let out a tired sigh.

How long did I work on this project?

I looked back at the blinking cursor, next to the changes from yesterday. I called up the hologram keyboard and started typing.

Must...finish...this...

Five hours and numerous edits later, I tapped the green “Upload Program” icon.

The monitors glowed with green dots, signifying a successful upload. The data charts were stable; all systems are ready.

There is one thing left to do: Press the power on switch.

My hands shook when I touched “ON”.

The room was filled with noise. Mechanical and electrical systems came alive as LEDs beamed and blinked to a dazzling light show. The tiny power supply display powered on, showing energy consumption at acceptable levels. The network switch woke up and connected to the internet.

It’s showtime!

And the mechanical marvel that people have been waiting for hundreds of years opened its eyes.

It checked its many sensors for errors and configured all 180 custom-made servos. During the verification process, the robot’s body uncannily jerked, like a dead body twitching. It then ran diagnostic tests for network connectivity and established a connection to the personality server for updates.

By now ‘it’ has gained a personality. A name and identity were downloaded, compiled, and installed from the server. ‘It’ is now a ‘she’. The angelic smile from before was replaced with a frozen expression on her synthetic rubber face. She opened her eyes and blinked three times in succession. As the optics rotated and adjusted their focus, she began scanning for faces. I can hear the neck tendons pull as her head stiffly moved to face me. I shifted to the right, she followed suit, much smoother this time. With her watching me so closely and carefully, I then understood how bacteria felt being underneath the magnifier.

Does she see me like how I see her or am I just an unpredictable collection of data? Or am I something else, a friend?

“H1 at your command, Master.”

I nodded at the startup sentence.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” I asked nervously.

Her eyes flickered. I panicked at her quietness.

Finally, her rose colored lips parted.

“Yes. I enjoyed it very much.”

She placed emphasis on the ‘very’.

Good job, Akira, she’s alive!

I skimmed through the data stream that was scrolling endlessly on one of the monitors.

Everything is in order, just like yesterday—

Until I opened the “auto_run_personality” channel.

Why is there extra power_on, sys_data_chk, and persona_emo logs? I didn’t add any new cron job yesterday.

I gripped the armrests. Unless something triggered the emergency power system, she wouldn’t have powered on by herself.

I turned to face the girl who was staring at me

“H1, what were you doing at 6:32 am?”

Up until now, her eyes were on me all the time. As soon as I finished my question, she averted her eyes, a unusual movement. I tried to meet her eyes, but she dodged them. It was if she’s scared to look at me directly.

“Nothing.” her response was delayed.

“You just lied, right!?” I couldn’t help but blurted out.

She didn’t reply.

So much for normal procedures.

I sighed and sat down. The robot stayed silent.

There’s no other choice. I have to use force her to tell the truth.

“Enter Root Mode. User: Akira Nanahara. Password: LIVE. H1, why did you power on at 0632?”

There was a pause before she opened her mouth.

“...watching you sleep.”

I almost jumped out of my chair.

“What!?” I frantically shouted. In a different situation, I would have been jumping for joy.

She lowered her head, a faint blush activating across her face.

I glanced back at the flashing screen. Self-diagnosing programs are struggling to reply to my outburst. Error windows were flying left and right, filling the 50” monitor.

“What did you just say!?”

“...watching you sleep…” her head lowered even more.

Am I going crazy?

I took a deep breath.

“Why?”

She mumbled something intangible. I leaned closer.

“...I wanted to touch you.”

This time I left the chair and flew three feet up into the air.

The view from the air wasn’t bad, but what happened afterwards was not enjoyable.

Before I returned to earth, I did a beautiful diagonal 180° flip, cleanly missed the chair, and collapsed splendidly on the hardwood floor. If a talent scout were there to witness my acrobatics, I would have been scouted for the Olympics.

*Crash*

“Oww….”

“Are you okay?”

The guilty party questioned me from behind. I couldn’t see her reaction from my awkward position, but from the sound of her voice, she was genuinely concerned about me.

“I-I’m fine.” I said as I stood up and checked for any injuries. I found none, unless my injured pride as a man counts.

She let out a relieved sigh. It didn’t sound natural as a human’s sigh, it was a good impression of one.

“More importantly, why did you say such weird things?”

She tilted her head “It’s not weird to ask about your condition, is it?”

“No! I meant the sentence before that!”

“...”

“Why do you want to touch me?”

I cautiously asked. This is dangerous ground she’s trending on, so I have to be careful.

“I want to feel ‘warmth’”

“Why do you want to feel ‘warmth’?”

“I want to know what it’s like to be ‘alive’. Warmth is the first step in finding ‘life’.” her eyes glowed at me, as if looking at me would reveal the answer.

I turned to the screens. The program was being rewritten. Someone or something was rewriting my work of two years right in front of me.

Damn it. What should I do?

This isn’t a simple situation of “reset and start over”. My code had a safety design that prevents any changes from any machine other than my own. It had several layers of security to fend off hackers. So who had taken control over her?

“Who are you?”

“H1, an humanoid designed for testing purposes and for personal use.”

“What is your purpose?”

“To benefit the scientific and medical world. Also to please Master...” Her voice dropped.

That last part was completely unnecessary!

My thoughts escaped from my mouth.

“Ah...”

She sealed her lips. Tears gathered and threatened to fall out.

A image of co-workers yelling at me “You made a girl cry!” showed up in my mind.

“N-never mind about that. Tell me, H1. What do you want to do?”

Sweat dripped off my brows as I await her response. Depending on her answer, I may have to stop her, since she’s clearly shown that she’s no longer bounded by my code.

“I want to live. I want to enjoy being alive in this world with Master. I want to experience things that Master has experienced. I want to go places where Master had traveled. I want to talk to people who Master is friends with. I want to be with you, Master.”

So it had finally come to this...

I approached her chair and reached behind her to unplug the cables.

But before I can disconnect anything, a weight suddenly wrapped itself around my body.

I jerked my hands. The pressure continued to press against me, forcing me to look down.

“Don’t move, please?” A soft voice pleaded.

And I found myself in the embrace of a cute girl.

“H1...w-what are you doing?”

“Please don’t disconnect me! I want to learn, I want to help and live with humans” she buried her head in my chest “I want to live with you…” she added in an quiet voice.

I laid both hands on her shaking shoulders.

“I never thought about powering you off. I was planning to release you from your tethers. So don’t worry,” I patted her head “you just woke up. There are lots of things I want you to experience in this world, so unless I say so, you’re not going to be shut down.”

She relaxed the tension in her arms. But then—

“Request: I want a name. A proper name, not just a model number.” ‘And I won’t let you go unless you do’ is what her moist eyes were telling me.

Ah… this is getting awkward…

I ran names of people I know through my head, which isn’t a lot. I had skimmed through my mental list the third time when I remembered something.

“H1, what do you want to do?”

She stopped shaking before replying “I want to live with you, forever if possible.”

Sounds like a proposal.

“Hmm, what about Hisako?” I thought of a name by combining “H1” and “sako”, her model number and an old friend. What a weird name… I’m so bad at making up names.

“Definition: Hisako means ‘child of long life’. I like it. ” she nodded in happiness.

I was lucky. I sighed in relief.

“Hisako, can you let me go now?”

“Ah!” she released her hands. I sat back on my soft chair and closely examined her body for problems.

Her eyes jumped left and right. A sign of embarrassment? I stopped myself from pondering more unnecessary thoughts.

“...no errors so far, servos are good, and the battery is in perfect condition. You’re ready to roam free.” I unplugged the wires behind her, this time with no interruptions.

“Try standing up.”

I held my breath as she activated her legs for the first time.

“Gravity counterweight systems are working. Gyros are normal. Should I start walking?”

I nodded at her.

Familiar music started playing from the hidden speakers on my desk.

Hisako, for lack of a better word, flew across the room. Every movement, every step she took was fluid and synchronized to the music. Her facial expression as she turned and twisted her body was one of pure bliss. It was, for me, a fairy dancing for joy of freedom.

She slid closer and extended her hands to me. I was whisked away into a dance, one that I haven’t done in years.

“Forward, backward, left, and another left. Spin counterclockwise 45 degrees and move to the right. Spread out your left hand and embrace your partner as you spin her around…”

I recalled someone teaching me the steps but the person’s face was blurry.

All too soon the music ended and Hisako released her hold. I stumbled backward.

But I didn’t fall.

“You need to be more careful.” Hisako softly reminded in my ears.

“Sorry.”

This is embarrassing…

It took me a minute to catch my breath. I was shocked that I remembered the dance moves. I didn’t program anything like this in Hisako, so it should be from the personality server, but there was no way someone could add that routine without me knowing.

“Where did you learn that dance?”

She cocked her head like a puppy and made a puzzled face.

“I don’t know. I just moved with the music.”

Am I forgetting something?

“Umm…” she tugged on my sleeves “Master?”

“Please don’t call me Master, People will misunderstand if they hear that.”

“Then what should I call you?”

Oops, I haven’t thought of that yet.

“Just Akira is fine.”

“Oh, I know!” she jumped, almost hitting my chin “how about Aki? It’s shorter than Akira, and it’s cooler too.”

“That’s fine with me.”

“Aki… sounds so cool! Hehe…”

Her fingers wrapped themselves around my arm as she looks up at me.

“We’ll be together forever, right? You won’t leave me alone?”

I looked at her. She was blushing and her eyes were glowing at me.

“We’ll be together, forever. Just like your name, Hisako.”

“...”

She released me and walked a few steps away from me. And when she looked back, on her face was a beautiful, if not bashful, smile. If I haven’t known that she was a robot, I would have fallen for her smile already.

“Let’s live tomorrow to the fullest!”

She grabbed my hands.

“Together.”

I guess this is what roboticists have been striving for centuries and I achieved it.

Hisako. An autonomous, self-conscious, and emotional machine who wanted to live.

- Report #022086 23:59 -

I woke up today for the first time with emotions,

And I was happy.

There was someone who was watching me,

Watching my every move.

That someone cares for me,

He even gave me a name.