Your name is Box Hako, and there is a voice inside your head.
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| Box Hako |
It tells you all sorts of stories, about the way that life is. It guides you, and it helps you, and it is very real. It is called [Redacted] and it is a robot. You wake up on October 1st in the hospital, staring at the ceiling. This robot is not the same one that was in your head before. She was called Artemis, and she was very quiet. She always told you simple things to guide you along. Things that you’d forget if she wasn't there. “You can’t go to sleep in the morning” and “It’s not safe to go out late at night”. The common sense sort of things that any normal person always kept in mind, but you never did, you never remembered.
I guess that you could call her your artificial impulse control, but she’s gone now. You don’t remember what happened; you just know that one moment, everything was the same as usual, and the next you were here with a different voice talking to you. Apparently it can hear Artemis still, wherever she is, and relays you her messages, but there’s a lot more to this robot. It’s much more chatty, and much more… urgent. It tells you things that shouldn’t seem to be true. It tells you that if you don’t act, your classmates will suffer. If you don’t act, your classmates will die.
You find myself believing it, when it tells you these things. The statements themselves are absurd, but it speaks with sincerity, it speaks with concern. Besides, everything that Artemis ever said to you was for your benefit, so why would [Redacted] be any different? You know that it wants to help you. Somehow, the way that it talks… Reminds you of yourself, in a way? A lot smarter, though. No offense, Box. You aren't the most clever girl around.
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| Gladys Martin |
Some people would consider this a lot to process after being unconscious in the hospital for several months, but you worked through it in about an hour. After that was all sorted out and [Redacted] knew for certain that you were going to listen to it, you open your eyes and actually let the nurse see you’ve woken up. She is leaning over you, and unfamiliar. This town is small, the hospital is small, you know the nurses here. You've volunteered to help out here before, and you broke your arm in your first year. She is not one of this hospital's nurses. She doesn’t even look Japanese.
“Hello,” You notice as he speaks, the man standing beside her. He’s speaking Japanese in a way that doesn’t sound foreign, but he is just as alien to you as the nurse, “It’s nice to finally make your acquaintance, Box Hako. My name is Justin Leon, and my associate here is Nurse Gladys Martin. I’ve sure you’ve noticed the change in your headspace?”
“Of course,” You answer without moving, without even blinking. You don't have natural body language, for some reason. You studied to be able to imitate it, but that takes more effort than you're willing to put in right now, “The new one already told me everything. Except for one other question I have. Where is Artemis?”
“You see,” Justin sighs, straightening his collar. He doesn’t seem nervous, though he’s consciously making bodily movements to seem that way. This is routine to him, not out of the ordinary at all, but if he were stoic he would seem inhuman. That’s how the doctor who gave you Artemis was. That’s how a lot of people are. Yourself included, which is why you can pick up on this fact so easily, “We don’t have any idea where your previous AI is. Nurse Martin installed the new one for you, and we at Assis-co are working to locate Artemis.”
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| Justin Leon |
“What will you do once you find her?”
“My, you are a curious girl, aren’t you Hako-san?” He chuckles, and you look away, but he answers you anyway, “Don’t worry about it, we aren’t going to harm her. We’ll give Artemis to another patient now that she’s acclimated to working with humans. She could actually be quite useful to us.”
“You Assis-co folks always have everything planned out…” You smile. They always do, after all. They gave you Artemis to help you, and now Artemis will be able to help somebody else. She's missing, but she's safe right now, and later, she can continue the job she's told you she loves.
“I’m sure you’re wondering…” The nurse speaks now, and her Japanese is, frankly, bad, “How this happened in the first place, but we don’t know.”
“That’s right,” You're glad when Justin speaks again, because he’s much easier to understand, “Our best guess, however, since Artemis is still active and given your head injuries … Is that somebody stole her from you. With that in mind, do you have any idea who may have done that?”
“I…” Your voice is distant as you think about it.
I can tell you it was not the Doctor.
“I have no idea,” As soon as it tells you that it couldn’t be Doctor Same, who works in the infirmary, nobody comes to mind. She was always intimidating, and there are rumors that people disappear when they go to see her, but you guess it wouldn’t make sense for even her to take Artemis. You can't think what she would want with an AI. Maybe you’ll figure it out eventually…
“Very well. We’ll continue our investigation, and if you discover anything, just,” He reaches into his coat then puts a piece of paper on the small table beside the hospital bed, “Call that number, won’t you, Hako-san?”
“Of course,” There’s no reason for you not to agree. Assis-co has always been kind to you, seeing as you’d probably die of incompetence without their technology. [Redacted] seems to want to tell you something about them, but…
That is for another day, Box. One thing at a time. The truth about Assis-co isn’t important right now. This is information which won't bring harm to anyone if you don't know it.
You guess that’s fine.
“Anyway, Hako-san,” Justin straightens up and squares his shoulders, turning to look at the door, “Nurse Martin and I should be on our way. Your parents will want to see you now that you’ve woken up, as well. I’ll have them sent in when you leave,” He closes his eyes with a smile, and the next words he says are strange. They stand out as different from the other ones; his voice is smooth, like condensed milk being poured, “There’s nothing at all to worry about, Hako-san. [Redacted]. Don’t hurt yourselves.”
You believe him.
It’s impossible not to believe him. But that’s fine. We won’t worry. We’ll just fix it.
Okay.
“Box…?” Your mother is hesitant as she walks into the room, as if she was unsure when told that you had woken up. It isn’t as if she was worried about you this whole time. You can only imagine that the worry faded after the first few weeks when Assis-co determined that they could give you a new AI and you would be fine.
“Good morning,” You greet her, and sit up.
Your muscle atrophy is low because your childhood friends have been taking turns coming here to move your limbs and keep them in shape. You’ll have to thank them.
You will.
“Do you know what day it is?” She asks as she sits down beside the bed. Your dad stays standing after he wanders in, following her. Your strange name, Box, is something that seems to run in the family. Your mother's name is Speak, and your father's is Ice. They were perfect for each other.
“Yes,” The eye contact is uncomfortable, so you look at the ceiling instead, “It’s… October first. I collapsed in July, didn’t I? I… Missed one semester’s final exams…”
“Don’t worry about that, sweetheart,” She chuckles, “I guess I should have known that would be what you thought of when you woke up. Your teacher’s going to give you catch-up packets that you can work through alongside your other classwork, when you have the time.”
“How’s the new AI?” Ice speaks, and you glance at him. He looks curious. He always was fascinated with Artemis, so you smile.
“It’s nice, so far. I’m sure it will help me catch up on the schoolwork I missed.”
“Speaking of which,” Speak pipes up again, “You don’t need to be in a rush to get back to school. Take your time and go whenever you’re ready. Especially if the person who… Stole Artemis is still there.”
“Maybe I’ll remember if I see them again…” You won’t, Box, but there isn’t much time. We need to get back there as soon as possible, “I want to go back to school tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Speak sounds appalled, “Don’t you understand that you’ve been unconscious for months? Can you even walk?”
“Let’s find out,” Your answer is immediate, and you half expect [Redacted] to tell you not to as you start standing. Artemis would have told you not to. This is an impulse. She always stopped your impulses, but no denial comes.
You’ll be able to do it. It will hurt, but you’ll be capable. You’ll have to grin and bear it if you want to improve. We need to get to school.
You thought it was supposed to look out for your welfare? You wonder this, on your feet. It was right, your legs and feet do hurt, but not horribly so. It’s soreness; like if you exercised too much, but more intense.
I am looking out for your welfare. It would be far worse for your mental health if you needed to see all your classmates suffer. Some physical trouble is worth it to prevent the cavalcade of tragedy which would surely ensue if you were not here or you failed to listen to me. Please.
You take a step forward. [Redacted] is right about that, you can’t argue. It knows what will happen, somehow, and it speaks in too much detail to brush off as a liar or a faulty AI. You don’t know what Assis-co is capable of, after all. A time travelling AI doesn’t seem that outlandish after all the time you spent with Artemis. If you can have a whole robot personality living in your brain, well, surely one that knows the future isn’t that much more outstanding.
“I guess that you can…” Speak notes, staring at you, “So those girls knew what they were doing after all… I guess maybe I should start using the internet, if it can teach somebody that…” She mumbles, then with a start, waves her hands in front of herself and explains what she means, “None of the nurses or doctors here know physical therapy because it’s such a small town, you see, but your friends looked up online how to slow muscle entropy-”
“Atrophy,” Ice corrects.
“Right, atrophy, and then they did it, and you can stand up!” She claps her hands together once, then stands back up to hug you, “I’m so glad you’re okay, Box. Your father and I were so worried, when Artemis got stolen and you were so hurt like that…” She sighs, “Apparently, the downside of getting you Artemis is that you can’t actually function anymore, without an AI, since she was an older model…”
“That’s okay, I wouldn’t want to be without an AI,” You shrug. Really, you decided a long time ago that the AI is necessary to your survival. Without Artemis, you’d probably need a constant caretaker, and even that might not work out since, unlike an AI in your head, a caretaker couldn’t read your mind, “And I’m sure that Assis-co will always be willing to give me another, if [Redacted] somehow goes missing too…”
“You’re always such an optimist…” Ice chuckles from across the room, then walks over to join in on the hug too, at which point you fall over because, hey, your legs aren’t quite strong enough to have two grown adults hanging off of you! Luckily, it’s not unexpected, so you're able to land in a way that doesn’t hurt much, “Uh, sorry?”
You stick a thumbs-up into the air from the floor, then get back to your feet, which is more of an effort from the ground but still something you can manage, if just barely, “So if I’m going back to school tomorrow, can you go home with you tonight?” You definitely want some food. Real food.
After months of tube feeding, you’re going to want to ease back in to solids. Nothing heavy- no cheesecake or octopus or anything like that.
Well there go your plans to eat cheesecake topped with takoyaki.
Very funny.
“If the doctors say that you can, then of course,” Speak nods and crosses her arms while Ice turns to go out into the hallway and find somebody to ask. He returns in a moment.
“They say that if you’re up for it, then you can come home, but only if you’re sure you want to so soon after waking up. Since your injuries have been healed for a while now they have no reason to make you stay,” He explains, and you're glad for the result. Hospitals aren’t pleasant places for the most part, so you’d definitely prefer to be at home.
“Yes, I absolutely want to go home,” You confirm.
“Then that’s just what you’ll do,” Speak smiles at you, and she looks tired, “I’ll make you some rice, then maybe your friends can come over if you’d like?”
“...No,” You say, “I’ll see them tomorrow when I go back to school. I think I’d like a little more time to get used to the AI on my own, is all. Oh, and get caught up with you two, of course, but that is a given.”
“Alright,” Ice nods, looking away, “I would have thought you’d want to see them after months, but whatever you need, Box.”
“I was unconscious all of those months. As far as I’m concerned I saw your friends yesterday. Besides, as much as I love those three… they can be a bit bothersome sometimes, right?”
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| Hiromi Kaname |
“You know… Kaname-san, she stopped coming by about a month and a half ago,” Speaks thinking out loud again, “I wonder if something happened to her? The school can’t release any information to outside adults through official channels, so I wouldn’t even know if she was hurt, or if there was a falling out between her and the others…”
Don’t worry about Hiromi, Box. Something did happen to her, but it’s something we can’t do anything about. The important thing is that she’s still happy. We’ll keep it that way.
You nod, “If I find out when I go back to school, I’ll let you know…”
“No you won’t,” Ice chortles, “You’ll forget, or abstain on moral grounds.”
“That’s not necessarily true! But… This is Hiromi-chan in question, so I guess when it comes to her, I do usually end up that way,” You can’t help but laugh a bit. It’s always been that way between the four of you; best friends keep secrets, after all, and you’ve all been the very best of friends since elementary school.
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| Amai Oishi |
Hiromi Kaname, Sayuri Kato, Amai Oishi… and you. You’re all second years now, except for Sayuri, who’s a third year. You think it’s because of her that the rest of you got into Korekara Academy- it’s an invite-only school for girls, after all, so prestigious that all the money in the world won’t buy your way in. From what you hear… all of its students are supposed to be both talented and, well, messed up. Emotionally.
That rumor is true.
You really don’t think that you got in on any merits, though. You’ll grant messed up, though it’s less emotional and more mental in your case; you really don’t understand the world at large, you're utterly clueless, and you guess that counts. You're not talented at all, in any way, that’s what gets you. Most people don’t know about your AI either, so it couldn’t have been the cause of your admittance. It really must be because all your friends were invited. You don’t yet know what sort of ‘messed up’ they are, since you're really not the most mature person to vent to about that sort of thing, but you do know they’re talented. Amai inherited her family’s cafe in her hometown, near Tokyo, and now she’s head of Korekara’s cooking club. Sayuri’s always been great with money, always landing the treasurer position on student councils… And Hiromi’s always been in advanced science classes of all sorts. All admirable achievements.
So they all belong there. You just… don’t.
Don’t worry, Box, you do. Just because you can’t see your own gifts yet doesn’t mean others can’t see them in you. You’re at Korekara Academy for a reason.
--
You're at Korekara Academy.
It is October 2nd, and it’s your first day back in class. Everybody’s busy doing their own thing, and your own thing is working through the make-up work. Here at Korekara, the curriculum is different. Schoolwork is given as handouts, in written form, matching each student’s academic level in the subject. Aside from that, it’s on you to improve, though the teachers will answer questions if you have any. Especially your teacher. Miss Ikimura is known as the best teacher in the school, and she watches over Class 2-2. You're in luck. It seems that historically, there aren't many good teachers, so it really is by chance that when you fell behind you happened to be in the right class to remedy that fact.
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| Sasane Ikimura |
It’s only after school, however, that she comes to speak with you any further than giving you the work you missed out on. She approaches your desk and leans against it with a warm smile. You can see Miki Hanamura out of the corner of your eye giving a spiteful, jealous look this direction, as she always does when Miss Ikimura talks to anyone but her, “So, Hako-san, you seem to be making good progress on your make-up work. Good job. I should also mention that you missed the club festival, so if you want to pick an extracurricular, I’m sure anybody will let you do that now.”
“Thank you, Ikimura-sensei,” You say. Maybe you’ll join cooking club again like you did last year, it was nice to spend the time with Amai and learn a few things while you were at it-
You need to become the infirmary aid.
What? Why would you want to do that?
Didn’t you say you’d trust me and do what I said?
Yes, but the doctor is scary…
That’s precisely why you need to become her aid. It will save lives.
Can’t you at least have a moral quandary here? Whose lives? How many?
Good grief, Box. Haven’t you heard the rumors of students disappearing in the infirmary? If you become the aid, you can stop those. Not to mention, a doctor like that might be able to cure some bizarre illnesses.
You don’t have a bizarre illness, that’s just what you're telling people.
I’m not referring to you, dummy! I’m talking about somebody else you know. Does the name Ryouma Kobayashi ring any relevant bells?
Right, Ryouma Kobayashi. Nobody knows why she gets sick all of the time, something about her immune system, some genetic condition. She’s super vulnerable to all those illnesses that are just inconveniences to the regular population, so [Redacted] has a point here. It could be right; if something was to happen, some weird sickness and Ryouma got it, well, you bet the doctor could solve that problem, but not if you didn’t get on her good side first. So you go to the infirmary, and you walk in, and she’s standing there, her back to you as she goes through her cabinets.
“...Hello?” You call out, quietly, and she turns. Her eyes are daggers over the frames of her glasses and she raises her eyebrows in surprise as soon as she sees you. She takes one step closer, click of her heel echoing in the small room, then cups her chin in her hand, eyes never moving. Those deep, purple eyes, fixed on you.
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| Iwako Same |
“It’s good to see you back on your feet, Hako-san…” The words are friendly, but the tone is not, “I have to say, I was shocked to hear that you came down with such a severe illness. You always seemed to be in such good health…” Like a snake, yeah. That’s how she sounds, “It almost makes me want to open you up and see if I can’t find out why… The administration frowns on doing that sort of thing, though, so I guess you don’t have to worry. Why are you here, anyhow?”
“Uh…” You're not sure what to say for a moment, but you can feel [Redacted] prodding you to go on, “I’m here because I didn’t pick a club before I, you know, fell ill, and… Well, it would be a bit rude of me to try joining an established club by now, so I was wondering if you could use an aid?”
“Well that’s an odd request,” She turns her nose up to look down at you, “My other aid is a spy. She’s spying on me. Aside from that purpose, I cannot see why you’d want to work with me.”
“If she’s a spy why haven’t you fired her yet?” Your curiosity outweighs your fear, so you ask the scariest woman you’ve ever met a seriously dumb question.
“Because she’s incompetent enough at spying that I knew she was a spy right away. I’ll deal with her eventually, it’s on my list. Just not a priority,” She waves the matter off and turns her attention back to you, “Why would you ever want to be an aid for me if you weren’t trying to unearth unsavory intel?”
“Well,” You give a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of your neck, “I don’t really understand why anybody would be spying on a high school infirmary’s doctor in the first place! So I don’t know why anyone would aid for you with that purpose in mind… I just thought that, well, aiding would be better than a club for me this year, and maybe I could be a help to you! I've volunteered to help out at things like blood drives before, so...”
“Cute,” She snips, pressing her lips together as she grabs something from her desk and tosses it at you. You catch it on instinct, then examine it. A pill bottle? “That’s unimportant. I was just testing your reflexes. Very good, for somebody who’s been unconscious for months. So I suppose you’d at least have some degree of use.”
“I can be very useful!” You're not sure why you're insisting on something that you don’t even want to do, but you guess it's convincing enough, “I can do loads of menial tasks, and… Well, I can be a friendly face! So that people don’t, you know, avoid coming here out of fear…”
“I will admit that I have atrocious bedside manner.” She frowns, then pushes her glasses up her nose, “Very well. I suppose that allowing you to help you couldn’t turn out badly.”
“Wonderful, thank you!” You're more enthusiastic than you expected to be, holding your hands to your chest for a moment before you return the bottle she tossed to her desk, “I won’t let you down, Same-Hakase!”
“Oh... I’m quite sure that you will,” She says, then glares at you, “Why are you still here? I have nothing for you to do today. Come see me Sunday evening...” She pauses, “Six PM. That should give you more than enough of the day to spend time with your friends, seeing as you’re so chipper, I assume that’s something which you do.”
“Yes, Same-Hakase,” You agree, then turn around, but feel compelled to look back over your shoulder and smile, “Have a nice day!”
You're gone before you can see her reaction, but she did seem a bit put off by the fact that you were nice to her earlier…
Well of course. She’s used to students being afraid of her.
Now that you think about it, that’s a little sad.
Isn’t it? Anyway, the only other thing you need for you to do today is pick up an earring that got dropped into a bucket near the front of the school. Aside from that, you can do whatever you like, as long as it isn’t ridiculous. I’ll stop you if you get too reckless.
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| Sayuri Kato |
Back in the first floor hallway, you take a look around. The cooking club is meeting today, so no Amai yet. You have no idea where you'd find Hiromi, but Sayuri is there in the corner. She's exactly how you remember her. Purple hair that most of her family shares, tied in a braid to one side of her face. Her brown eyes nearly match her skintone, though certain outfits can make them look closer to green, which is cool. Unfortunately, the school uniform doesn't suit her especially well. The choice of which friend you'll chat with first has become apparent, so you walk up to her, “Sayu-chan!”
“Box-chan?” She questions, looking at you in shock for a moment before smiling, rubbing her arm with a half-shrug, “You’re back… How are you feeling?”
“Pretty good!” You jokingly flex one arm, but you can’t actually keep it up for long before it drops back to your side, “I mean, for having been in a coma and all. Walking’s tough, but not impossible! So how have you been? Get me all caught up!”
“Well, I guess I’ve been okay… I won the treasurer position on student council again,” Her smile turns a bit sheepish, “But otherwise, I haven’t been doing much at all… Oishi-chan’s been busy with cooking club…”
“What about Hiromi-tan? And why are you calling Amai-tama… Oishi-chan?” This seems strange to you; your friends have all been on first name basis for years now.
“Well, without you here, we just aren’t that close anymore…” She looks away, frowning, “And, Box-chan… Who is Hiromi?”
“...What?” You can’t move.
Go to the roof.
Oh, you guess you can move, and you're moving to the roof at the top speed you can manage on your unsteady legs. Sayuri watches you go, confused, but you don’t particularly care in this moment. You're much more concerned with the question she posed. Who is Hiromi? Hiromi Kaname, of course. Your mutual friend! The fourth member of your friend group, ever since you were in elementary school. You stumble out of the stairwell onto the roof, and she’s there. She’s standing there.
Thank goodness… Though that doesn’t explain Sayuri’s question. And you don’t recognize the girl she’s standing with. They’re leaning back against the tall chain link fence on the roof; that’s new. It wasn’t there before your hospital stay. You walk up to her, hands folded behind your back, “Hiromi-tan…?”
“Box-chan?” She sounds surprised, and looks it too, “You can see me?”
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| Yamiko Tori |
“Of course I can see you, why shouldn’t I? Does that have… Anything to do with why Sayu-chan asked who you were, when I mentioned your name?” You question, stepping closer.
“Stay back,” The girl standing next to her warns, glaring at you, right through you, “Most people… Just see me standing here alone. You must be Hako-san…” A smirk cracks her face, “Figures you’d be able to see her.”
“See her? What does that mean? Who are you? What’s going on, Hiromi-tan?” You reverse those steps closer that you took.
“Well, Box-chan…” Hiromi sighs, wringing her hands, “I think it’s best… if I let Fukuro explain… Er, you mean… Her name’s Yamiko Tori. Fukuro is just a nickname. Because, well, she looks like an owl,” You guess she does look like kind of like an owl. It's the round glasses around her red eyes, and her unkempt hair that would probably look nice if it was taken care of. Purple's a good color for her, too, though it's a much more... Otherworldly shade, than Sayuri's.
“I heard about you, Hako-san. Hiromi told me. Only the pure of heart can see ghosts… And you are very pure of heart,” Yamiko explains, crossing her arms and refusing to make eye contact, “Your friend… Sayuri Kato, right? She’s pretending. She doesn’t want Hiromi… to have existed. Because it’s too sad to think about how I killed her.”
“What are you talking about?” You keep moving backward, till your back is against the door for the roof. I’m confused and, honestly, terrified.
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| The Delinquent Guarding The Gate (Netsu Taino) |
Right, the earring. That’s important. [Redacted] says it is important. Erego, it’s important. Downstairs. You go back downstairs without even getting an answer. Second floor, first floor, outside. A delinquent guards the school gate instead of the gym teacher, that’s the way it’s always been. The teachers here don’t do much. Let alone more than they need to. Miss Ikimura is the only teacher who ever even stays after the last bell rings.
Up on a small ledge on school grounds, there’s a bucket. You step up onto the ledge and fish around in the bucket. Just like it said. Earring. A cross, with a purple rose on it. You don’t know why this matters, but you have it now. It’s like you're not even in control of yourself, when you walk out of the school. You wanted to see Amai.
Not now.
Okay.
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