Electric Sheep for Laura!
Title: Electric Sheep
Recipient: Laura/genicheerios
Rating: PG
Summary: A pair of policemen stop by their regular coffee shop
It was late when Niou finished work that night, closing up the cafe by himself as Yukimura left earlier that day for his monthly appointment at the hospital. The keys jingled almost disturbingly loudly as he locked up the door and Niou pulled his jacket closer around himself against the cold.
This was where Yukimura would turn off to go home, he thought as he turned down the usual alleyway, but he stopped just a few paces down at the sounds of a bin hitting the ground, followed by a distinctive gunshot that made him freeze. Niou turned to run.
“Do not move from there.”
The voice was commanding and everything was screaming at him to disobey and to run anyway, but he stayed, tensed, staring into the darkness of the alleyway. The porch of the small apartment that housed a lady and a cat wasn't lit that night, he realised belatedly. The footsteps approaching were slow, assured and themselves and the person steadily came closer.
He saw in the moonlight the glint of glasses frames, the opening of his mouth and Niou stopped breathing for a second.
“What are you?”
-
Androids.
They weren't originally called that, when they were first created in great numbers during the aftermath of the Great Tokyo Earthquake that leveled the city. They were just 'robots' then.
Created to help clean up after the disaster and help humanity get back on its feet.
Cleaners, builders, servers...
That had been their intention, mere mass-produced blocks of shapes that did the manual labour too difficult for humans unaided. But with each passing year they became less of a robot and more human, finally taking on human form as their functions changed into entertainers, workers...
Almost human replacements.
There were always differences between them though, enough to set the two species apart. The rigidity of emotions, the limitations of programming that seemed to become less and less every year, and the limitations of being created from metal no matter how well made the synthetic skin that covered them was.
And most importantly, their instability.
Androids went 'rogue', far more often than the manufacturing companies were willing to admit, for reasons that no one fully understood. They went rogue and turned on humans, forgetting their place as creations. Viruses, bugs in programming, some sort of third party hacking into the androids and controlling them were among the few suggestions that were brought up as to why it happened, but there was nothing concrete or proveable.
There were rumours that said it was the evolution of the android, of them moving beyond the restrictions of creations and into their own selves. They faded into quiet underground groups that whispered about the coming of the time of the android but their whispers did nothing.
As it was, society dealt with the rogue androids, regardless of the reason behind it, by creating a special task force within their police department tasked with controlling and ultimately destroying the androids that went rogue.
But despite their instability, with each generation of android that was created, the physical differences between them and humans became smaller and their emotions felt more real, more fluid and less manufactured.
How important then, was their fundamental instability to defining them as separate from humans? In a few generations when possibly even the small remaining flaws that a keen eye could pick out disappeared... would it be the only difference?
-
It was early afternoon when they pulled up next to the small coffee shop, tucked away between the stretch of skyscrapers in the inner city. There was still some time before their shift started, so the two men inside got out of the car and entered the shop.
The inside was small and tidy, open and inviting that seemed out of place in an area known for the looming structures of architectural development that had been some of the first to appear during the rebuilding of Tokyo. There were just two people working and a handful of people seated, on a late lunch break most likely.
“Ah, Sanada, Yagyuu-kun. The usual?”
Yagyuu moved to take their normal seats at the small booth tucked into a corner, a table that seemed to always remain free whenever they came there. “Yes please. Yukimura-kun.”
It had been a while since they had been inside the shop, caught up with work that had taken them recently to the outskirts and the opposite side of the city. But nothing had changed in the shop they otherwise frequented sometimes every other day; there was still the old man in the corner that seemed to be there every day as well, and Sanada's almost-smile was the same as he sat down in the seat opposite him, Yukimura just a few steps behind.
“Your usual lunches,” he said, placing the plates in front of them. A panini and salad for Yagyuu-kun and a sandwich for Sanada. Your drinks will be a moment.”
Yagyuu's gaze moved to the coffee machine and to the person behind it and he frowned slightly.
“You've got a new worker.”
“Of course I did. After what you two did to my last one.” Yukimura paused and placed his hand gently on Sanada's shoulder as the other man shifted slightly as though to argue.
Sanada too apparently remembered the gunshots, the smashing of the table they were sitting at now, the breaking of the glass and Sanada firing heavy slugs into the head and chest of the worker as he crouched behind the coffee counter. Yagyuu looked at the wall - Yukimura had done a good job patching up the holes in it.
“I'm not annoyed, you had to do your job. It was an inconvenience though,” Yukimura said.
The new person had moved a bit now and Yagyuu could see their face better, instead of just the shock of white hair poking above the coffee machine. He looked at the way they carefully placed the teaspoons on the saucers and spent just a moment longer than necessary folding napkins.
“Human or android?”
“Android. Niou, hurry up and come here with the drinks.”
The closer Niou got to table, the harder it was to believe Yukimura's claim he was an android. Normally there was some mechanical-ness to their movements, some stiffness in their faces as though manufacturing still hadn't fully mimicked the shifting facial muscles properly, but Niou smiled easily enough at them as he pushed their respective coffees across the table to them.
There was just the telltale sign as Niou glanced as his face as Yagyuu saw his pupils dilate almost immediately and he could almost imagine Niou adding his face to his database.
His eyes were blue, he noticed idly as Niou's eyes returned to normal.
“One of the newest models, I assume?” Yagyuu gestured for Niou to come closer. With a careful glance at Yukimura first, Niou sidled just a few steps across to stand next to Yagyuu's side of the booth.
“One still technically in the design phase. Keep it a secret, please.” Yukimura's smile was easy enough but the longer Yagyuu looked at it, the more almost-threatening it became.
“Of course,” he said blandly. He raised his hand and glanced at Yukimura. “You don't mind?” Yukimura shook his head and Yagyuu grasped Niou's chin, tilting his head to the side. Niou's sideways gaze was intense, focused on Yagyuu even as his head was turned more to the side.
Yagyuu moved his other hand to trace along the line of numbers that ran underneath Niou's ear, noting the way he stiffened at the touch, the coolness of his skin that seemed to heat up the longer Yagyuu's fingers remained, and how he seemed to stop breathing.
The numbers were slightly indented and he saw Niou's jaw tense as he ran a finger along them again.
“I suppose there's no chance of being able to purchase him from you?” Yagyuu asked finally, letting his hands drop.
Yukimura laughed and while he noticed Niou stiffen next to him, he didn't think anyone else did. “Not a chance at all, with how much I had to pay.”
There was a silence, broken only by Sanada putting his coffee cup down onto the saucer again after drinking and the sounds of the quiet chatter from the rest of the cafe.
“Can I go now? There's customers waiting,” Niou said, sounding almost bored with the proceedings, even with how closely he was watching Yagyuu.
“Of course, Niou. I'll come along in a bit.”
Yagyuu watched him as he walked away, trying to see if there was any stiffness in his walk that might hint to mechanical joints or anything that set him apart from the human that he looked all too much like. Nothing. He frowned and turned finally away to his coffee and lunch, all too aware of Sanada watching him and Yukimura's amusement as he left to return to the cashier.
-
Yagyuu couldn't help but watch Niou the next time they came into the cafe, just a few days later. He really was quite different to the android Yukimura had before, who had methodically made the various coffee orders as though following a recipe each time they'd come through, served the food to customers and continued silently with his work.
In comparison, Yagyuu could see Niou conversing cheerfully with customers as they waited, his expressions shifting easily, small minuscule differences between them. Occasionally Niou glanced over at him, as though sensing Yagyuu's gaze on him, sometime that he followed up with a raised eyebrow and a strange quirked smile.
“The generational upgrades is remarkable,” Yagyuu said outloud, turning back to his coffee after the latest smile from Niou. His coffee had a swirling leaf pattern in the foam today, different to the plain top from the other day.
“What?” Sanada looked up from his silent contemplation of his lunch. It was quieter on his side of the table with Yukimura busy with customers rather than talking to his partner. They'd come earlier than usual today and while their normal table had been free still, the coffee shop in general was louder and more crowded than its usual sleepy afternoon tea self.
“He's very different to how Hiyoshi-kun was.” Yagyuu paused and took a sip of his coffee. “When they finally roll out his generation en masse, it will make distinguishing androids much more difficult.”
Sanada just grunted, which Yagyuu took to be an agreement.
“Although, I wonder if we could get him to try and pass the personality upgrade to Tezuka-kun at the office. Atobe-kun might appreciate it.”
“Don't be ridiculous, Yagyuu.”
Yagyuu laughed softly to himself. “I'm joking, Sanada-kun. Don't worry.” He knew Atobe had probably specified that personality when he'd had Tezuka built, there was really no other explanation for the straight forward, stoic personality that Yagyuu could come up with.
They fell into silence as they finished their lunches, Yagyuu watching the other customers as they slowly thinned and it quietened down. Just as he was finishing the last of his latte, Niou came over, holding two paper bags.
“Bagel to go for Sanada with love from Yukimura and a muffin for Yagyuu,” he said, dropping them both on the table.
Sanada looked to argue and splutter and Yagyuu cut across him before he could speak. “I'm afraid I didn't order a muffin, Niou-kun. I never do.”
Niou shrugged and turned away. “Oh well, I must have heard Yukimura wrong. You can take it anyway, it's already put through.”
And before Yagyuu could say anything else, Niou wandered away and Yagyuu found himself staring at the pulled back hair hanging down Niou's back and the decorative bow he'd tied his apron tie into.
He didn't know how to feel about strangeness of carrying out a bag from the cafe, something he never did. Or the strange clenching feeling as Yukimura raised his eyebrows at the sight of it as they passed him on their way out the door.
-
“It was too sweet,” Yagyuu said the next day as Niou passed him his coffee. This time there was a series of the leaf patterns in it.
“Really? The raspberry and white chocolate ones are my favourite.”
Yagyuu glanced over to see Sanada frowning over what appeared to be chocolate powder shaken on top of his black coffee before he turned to look at Niou again.
“I didn't enjoy the chocolate part of it very much.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
Yagyuu just shook his head as he was handed a bag again as they left - this time with an “oh I forgot, too late, you have to take it anyway,” He was even less surprised when he opened it in the car to see a non-chocolate muffin inside.
-
Could androids taste and enjoy things, he wondered. It was strange; it had never been something he'd even thought about before. Did they eat?
Did they have a sense of 'enjoyment'?
The people at work he asked had no answer for him, although Yanagi spouted off some data about the lack of a stomach inside the standard android models and the programming for simulating enjoyment.
Tezuka, Atobe's assistant android had a simple “sometimes” for him, although Yagyuu wasn't sure which question he was answering and Tezuka went back to his work before he could ask.
-
“I've figured it out,” Niou said and Yagyuu looked up at him.
Niou pushed Yagyuu's cup of coffee across the table to him and slid into the seat opposite him. Sanada had gotten up earlier to sit at the counter and talk to Yukimura and Yagyuu glanced at him briefly before turning his attention back to Niou.
He had a cake with him today that he set on the table between them before carefully starting to eat it, constantly turning the plate around to eat it evenly from the outside in.
“Aren't you meant to be working?”
Niou looked around the cafe quickly and lingered for a moment on Yukimura leaning over the counter to talk to Sanada. “I'm having my lunch break.”
“I see.” Yagyuu frowned slightly but there didn't seem to be anyone waiting for help with their order anyway, so he turned back to his coffee. It had a heart shape in the foam today and Yagyuu prodded it with the spoon, stopping as he became aware of Niou watching him with an oddly expectant look on his face.
He sighed and pushed up his glasses. “Oh very well, what have you figured out, exactly?”
“I saw you once, a few weeks ago. Before you came here.”
“I'm sorry, I don't remember this.” And given Niou's appearance, or at least the very distinctive colour of his hair, he liked to think that he would have.
Niou waved his apology away. “It was nighttime. I ran into you on the way home. I think you must have been at work.”
Yagyuu paused and while he tried to hide the momentary awkwardness, he saw the slight change in Niou's eyes that made him suspect that he'd seen it.
“I don't actually know what you do for work, you know, Yagyuu.”
He turned to his coffee and took a sip. As perfect as ever, he noted. “Nothing much. I work for the government.”
Niou rested his chin on his hand and looked at him. “Yukimura says you're a policeman.”
Yagyuu paused again. “Why are you asking then, if Yukimura-kun has already told you?”
That just got him a shrug and Niou looked away. “I don't know. I just wanted to hear it from you, I guess.” Niou pushed his cake slightly towards Yagyuu who shook his head at the silent offer.
“Yes, I'm a policeman. And Sanada-kun is my partner. We've been working together for quite a few years.”
Niou looked brightly expectant again and he cut off a bit more of his cake, eating it before he spoke again. “And what sort of things do you do? Stopping armed robberies? Saving cats from trees? Shooting down back guys?”
Yagyuu laughed softly. “Nothing quite like that. Just trying to keep the city safe.”
-
He hadn't expected to see Niou outside of the coffee shop.
Perhaps some awful part of him just thought that Niou lived in the coffee shop, hooked up to a power point or something while the store was closed.
He'd asked once, if Niou had dreams at night when he slept, only to get a strange look and Niou admitting that he didn't sleep, instead just shutting down for a few hours and letting himself idle out. He had an apartment, but it was apparently little more than a hole in the wall.
Yagyuu most definitely hadn't expected to see him while he was on duty, at night, the taste of the muffin still in his mouth as he stared at Niou, paces away. His fingers went limp and the android head fell out of his grip to hit the ground.
Did androids know that this was happening, he wondered. Surely they had to know about androids going rogue, no matter how hard they and the manufacturing companies tried to cover it up.
What did they feel when they saw one of their own having their head torn off, the only way to truly deactivate them?
Did they even know about that?
…
Looking at Niou's face as he stared silently at Yagyuu, he had a feeling he didn't need to ask anyone.
-
There was awkwardness.
There was always going to be awkwardness, no matter how well Niou tried to hide it. No matter how his emotions were somehow, unexplainably so natural it was uncanny and no matter how mechanical of emotions he could fall back on, he was always going to show it.
The first sign was the lack of artwork in his coffee the next time they showed up, the lack of free muffin forced on him with the usual bevy of excuses as he left. He didn't let himself walk back in and buy one, not wanting to face the too observant blue eyes of Niou and his owner.
He asked Tezuka if androids could have their memories removed, or at least certain parts of it. “Of course we can, it's just programming,” was the answer he received.
But even knowing this, he didn't... couldn't bring himself to ask Yukimura to change anything for him. Instead of watched Niou in the shop and seeing the glances he got all too often over the top of the coffee machine. Niou always looked away whenever he realised Yagyuu was looking, pretending like he hadn't been looking back at him.
They never spoke about what happened and eventually the coffees were placed down with words instead of silence, the smiles came back, with a wary edge to them and Niou very carefully fell back into the routine from before. Yagyuu let himself relax slightly.
The first time he got given a paper bag and artwork in his latte was more of a relief than he'd expected it to be.
Even if the hearts were back to being replaced with leaves and odd doodles of characters. And even if it was a slice of cake in the bag instead of the muffin he'd grown so used to.
He could almost let himself believe that somehow, Niou had forgotten. Was there limited memory capacity in him, perhaps? A lack of long-term memory, maybe. Yagyuu didn't know.
Tezuka was unhelpful this time as well, saying that he'd have to meet Niou if Yagyuu wanted a proper analysis of him and his specifications.
And hearing that, made Yagyuu consider Niou more closely, though he'd refused the offer of an analysis, by Tezuka or from any other android in the department.
The specifics didn't really matter, he decided, stirring his once again love-hearted foam into his coffee.
-
“Are you sure you're an android, Niou-kun?”
Niou paused and handed the usual brown bag over to him with a smile. “What else could I be?”
Yagyuu considered him for a long moment and Niou just stared back at him patiently. “I don't know. Sometimes I could believe you're human.”
That made Niou laugh and Yagyuu felt quite foolish for even saying it aloud. He of all people should be aware of the differences.
“Was seeing my serial number not enough for you? Should I pull off my arm to prove to you I'm one?” Niou gripped his forearm and for a crazy moment Yagyuu almost thought that he was about to go through with his words.
Niou moved closer, his hand sliding up Yagyuu's arm to grip his shoulder, leaning in close and lowering his voice. “Or maybe I should remove my head?”
There was a darker tone to his voice that Yagyuu had never heard before from him and jerking away to look at him in surprise, Yagyuu realised Niou had never forgotten after all.
But just as easily as he'd said it, Niou laughed and stepped away, his entire demeanor changing in the blink of an eye. “But what're you asking that for? What makes you think that?”
“Just a few things. Your emotions. You smile a lot for an android.”
Niou laughed again and Yagyuu felt all more the foolish, though he stared at Niou's face as he quietened down.
“Is that all it takes to be human, then? Wouldn't that mean that you're more likely an android than I am, Yagyuu?”
His hand came up to brush against the skin just beneath Yagyuu's ear. Where, he realised, a serial number would be if he was indeed an android. He tried to hide the hitch in his breathing, how his neck flushed a little as he pushed away Niou's hand.
Niou just smiled at him some more and patted the bag. “Something for you to think about? Have fun at work today.”
FIN
Recipient: Laura/genicheerios
Rating: PG
Summary: A pair of policemen stop by their regular coffee shop
It was late when Niou finished work that night, closing up the cafe by himself as Yukimura left earlier that day for his monthly appointment at the hospital. The keys jingled almost disturbingly loudly as he locked up the door and Niou pulled his jacket closer around himself against the cold.
This was where Yukimura would turn off to go home, he thought as he turned down the usual alleyway, but he stopped just a few paces down at the sounds of a bin hitting the ground, followed by a distinctive gunshot that made him freeze. Niou turned to run.
“Do not move from there.”
The voice was commanding and everything was screaming at him to disobey and to run anyway, but he stayed, tensed, staring into the darkness of the alleyway. The porch of the small apartment that housed a lady and a cat wasn't lit that night, he realised belatedly. The footsteps approaching were slow, assured and themselves and the person steadily came closer.
He saw in the moonlight the glint of glasses frames, the opening of his mouth and Niou stopped breathing for a second.
“What are you?”
-
Androids.
They weren't originally called that, when they were first created in great numbers during the aftermath of the Great Tokyo Earthquake that leveled the city. They were just 'robots' then.
Created to help clean up after the disaster and help humanity get back on its feet.
Cleaners, builders, servers...
That had been their intention, mere mass-produced blocks of shapes that did the manual labour too difficult for humans unaided. But with each passing year they became less of a robot and more human, finally taking on human form as their functions changed into entertainers, workers...
Almost human replacements.
There were always differences between them though, enough to set the two species apart. The rigidity of emotions, the limitations of programming that seemed to become less and less every year, and the limitations of being created from metal no matter how well made the synthetic skin that covered them was.
And most importantly, their instability.
Androids went 'rogue', far more often than the manufacturing companies were willing to admit, for reasons that no one fully understood. They went rogue and turned on humans, forgetting their place as creations. Viruses, bugs in programming, some sort of third party hacking into the androids and controlling them were among the few suggestions that were brought up as to why it happened, but there was nothing concrete or proveable.
There were rumours that said it was the evolution of the android, of them moving beyond the restrictions of creations and into their own selves. They faded into quiet underground groups that whispered about the coming of the time of the android but their whispers did nothing.
As it was, society dealt with the rogue androids, regardless of the reason behind it, by creating a special task force within their police department tasked with controlling and ultimately destroying the androids that went rogue.
But despite their instability, with each generation of android that was created, the physical differences between them and humans became smaller and their emotions felt more real, more fluid and less manufactured.
How important then, was their fundamental instability to defining them as separate from humans? In a few generations when possibly even the small remaining flaws that a keen eye could pick out disappeared... would it be the only difference?
-
It was early afternoon when they pulled up next to the small coffee shop, tucked away between the stretch of skyscrapers in the inner city. There was still some time before their shift started, so the two men inside got out of the car and entered the shop.
The inside was small and tidy, open and inviting that seemed out of place in an area known for the looming structures of architectural development that had been some of the first to appear during the rebuilding of Tokyo. There were just two people working and a handful of people seated, on a late lunch break most likely.
“Ah, Sanada, Yagyuu-kun. The usual?”
Yagyuu moved to take their normal seats at the small booth tucked into a corner, a table that seemed to always remain free whenever they came there. “Yes please. Yukimura-kun.”
It had been a while since they had been inside the shop, caught up with work that had taken them recently to the outskirts and the opposite side of the city. But nothing had changed in the shop they otherwise frequented sometimes every other day; there was still the old man in the corner that seemed to be there every day as well, and Sanada's almost-smile was the same as he sat down in the seat opposite him, Yukimura just a few steps behind.
“Your usual lunches,” he said, placing the plates in front of them. A panini and salad for Yagyuu-kun and a sandwich for Sanada. Your drinks will be a moment.”
Yagyuu's gaze moved to the coffee machine and to the person behind it and he frowned slightly.
“You've got a new worker.”
“Of course I did. After what you two did to my last one.” Yukimura paused and placed his hand gently on Sanada's shoulder as the other man shifted slightly as though to argue.
Sanada too apparently remembered the gunshots, the smashing of the table they were sitting at now, the breaking of the glass and Sanada firing heavy slugs into the head and chest of the worker as he crouched behind the coffee counter. Yagyuu looked at the wall - Yukimura had done a good job patching up the holes in it.
“I'm not annoyed, you had to do your job. It was an inconvenience though,” Yukimura said.
The new person had moved a bit now and Yagyuu could see their face better, instead of just the shock of white hair poking above the coffee machine. He looked at the way they carefully placed the teaspoons on the saucers and spent just a moment longer than necessary folding napkins.
“Human or android?”
“Android. Niou, hurry up and come here with the drinks.”
The closer Niou got to table, the harder it was to believe Yukimura's claim he was an android. Normally there was some mechanical-ness to their movements, some stiffness in their faces as though manufacturing still hadn't fully mimicked the shifting facial muscles properly, but Niou smiled easily enough at them as he pushed their respective coffees across the table to them.
There was just the telltale sign as Niou glanced as his face as Yagyuu saw his pupils dilate almost immediately and he could almost imagine Niou adding his face to his database.
His eyes were blue, he noticed idly as Niou's eyes returned to normal.
“One of the newest models, I assume?” Yagyuu gestured for Niou to come closer. With a careful glance at Yukimura first, Niou sidled just a few steps across to stand next to Yagyuu's side of the booth.
“One still technically in the design phase. Keep it a secret, please.” Yukimura's smile was easy enough but the longer Yagyuu looked at it, the more almost-threatening it became.
“Of course,” he said blandly. He raised his hand and glanced at Yukimura. “You don't mind?” Yukimura shook his head and Yagyuu grasped Niou's chin, tilting his head to the side. Niou's sideways gaze was intense, focused on Yagyuu even as his head was turned more to the side.
Yagyuu moved his other hand to trace along the line of numbers that ran underneath Niou's ear, noting the way he stiffened at the touch, the coolness of his skin that seemed to heat up the longer Yagyuu's fingers remained, and how he seemed to stop breathing.
The numbers were slightly indented and he saw Niou's jaw tense as he ran a finger along them again.
“I suppose there's no chance of being able to purchase him from you?” Yagyuu asked finally, letting his hands drop.
Yukimura laughed and while he noticed Niou stiffen next to him, he didn't think anyone else did. “Not a chance at all, with how much I had to pay.”
There was a silence, broken only by Sanada putting his coffee cup down onto the saucer again after drinking and the sounds of the quiet chatter from the rest of the cafe.
“Can I go now? There's customers waiting,” Niou said, sounding almost bored with the proceedings, even with how closely he was watching Yagyuu.
“Of course, Niou. I'll come along in a bit.”
Yagyuu watched him as he walked away, trying to see if there was any stiffness in his walk that might hint to mechanical joints or anything that set him apart from the human that he looked all too much like. Nothing. He frowned and turned finally away to his coffee and lunch, all too aware of Sanada watching him and Yukimura's amusement as he left to return to the cashier.
-
Yagyuu couldn't help but watch Niou the next time they came into the cafe, just a few days later. He really was quite different to the android Yukimura had before, who had methodically made the various coffee orders as though following a recipe each time they'd come through, served the food to customers and continued silently with his work.
In comparison, Yagyuu could see Niou conversing cheerfully with customers as they waited, his expressions shifting easily, small minuscule differences between them. Occasionally Niou glanced over at him, as though sensing Yagyuu's gaze on him, sometime that he followed up with a raised eyebrow and a strange quirked smile.
“The generational upgrades is remarkable,” Yagyuu said outloud, turning back to his coffee after the latest smile from Niou. His coffee had a swirling leaf pattern in the foam today, different to the plain top from the other day.
“What?” Sanada looked up from his silent contemplation of his lunch. It was quieter on his side of the table with Yukimura busy with customers rather than talking to his partner. They'd come earlier than usual today and while their normal table had been free still, the coffee shop in general was louder and more crowded than its usual sleepy afternoon tea self.
“He's very different to how Hiyoshi-kun was.” Yagyuu paused and took a sip of his coffee. “When they finally roll out his generation en masse, it will make distinguishing androids much more difficult.”
Sanada just grunted, which Yagyuu took to be an agreement.
“Although, I wonder if we could get him to try and pass the personality upgrade to Tezuka-kun at the office. Atobe-kun might appreciate it.”
“Don't be ridiculous, Yagyuu.”
Yagyuu laughed softly to himself. “I'm joking, Sanada-kun. Don't worry.” He knew Atobe had probably specified that personality when he'd had Tezuka built, there was really no other explanation for the straight forward, stoic personality that Yagyuu could come up with.
They fell into silence as they finished their lunches, Yagyuu watching the other customers as they slowly thinned and it quietened down. Just as he was finishing the last of his latte, Niou came over, holding two paper bags.
“Bagel to go for Sanada with love from Yukimura and a muffin for Yagyuu,” he said, dropping them both on the table.
Sanada looked to argue and splutter and Yagyuu cut across him before he could speak. “I'm afraid I didn't order a muffin, Niou-kun. I never do.”
Niou shrugged and turned away. “Oh well, I must have heard Yukimura wrong. You can take it anyway, it's already put through.”
And before Yagyuu could say anything else, Niou wandered away and Yagyuu found himself staring at the pulled back hair hanging down Niou's back and the decorative bow he'd tied his apron tie into.
He didn't know how to feel about strangeness of carrying out a bag from the cafe, something he never did. Or the strange clenching feeling as Yukimura raised his eyebrows at the sight of it as they passed him on their way out the door.
-
“It was too sweet,” Yagyuu said the next day as Niou passed him his coffee. This time there was a series of the leaf patterns in it.
“Really? The raspberry and white chocolate ones are my favourite.”
Yagyuu glanced over to see Sanada frowning over what appeared to be chocolate powder shaken on top of his black coffee before he turned to look at Niou again.
“I didn't enjoy the chocolate part of it very much.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
Yagyuu just shook his head as he was handed a bag again as they left - this time with an “oh I forgot, too late, you have to take it anyway,” He was even less surprised when he opened it in the car to see a non-chocolate muffin inside.
-
Could androids taste and enjoy things, he wondered. It was strange; it had never been something he'd even thought about before. Did they eat?
Did they have a sense of 'enjoyment'?
The people at work he asked had no answer for him, although Yanagi spouted off some data about the lack of a stomach inside the standard android models and the programming for simulating enjoyment.
Tezuka, Atobe's assistant android had a simple “sometimes” for him, although Yagyuu wasn't sure which question he was answering and Tezuka went back to his work before he could ask.
-
“I've figured it out,” Niou said and Yagyuu looked up at him.
Niou pushed Yagyuu's cup of coffee across the table to him and slid into the seat opposite him. Sanada had gotten up earlier to sit at the counter and talk to Yukimura and Yagyuu glanced at him briefly before turning his attention back to Niou.
He had a cake with him today that he set on the table between them before carefully starting to eat it, constantly turning the plate around to eat it evenly from the outside in.
“Aren't you meant to be working?”
Niou looked around the cafe quickly and lingered for a moment on Yukimura leaning over the counter to talk to Sanada. “I'm having my lunch break.”
“I see.” Yagyuu frowned slightly but there didn't seem to be anyone waiting for help with their order anyway, so he turned back to his coffee. It had a heart shape in the foam today and Yagyuu prodded it with the spoon, stopping as he became aware of Niou watching him with an oddly expectant look on his face.
He sighed and pushed up his glasses. “Oh very well, what have you figured out, exactly?”
“I saw you once, a few weeks ago. Before you came here.”
“I'm sorry, I don't remember this.” And given Niou's appearance, or at least the very distinctive colour of his hair, he liked to think that he would have.
Niou waved his apology away. “It was nighttime. I ran into you on the way home. I think you must have been at work.”
Yagyuu paused and while he tried to hide the momentary awkwardness, he saw the slight change in Niou's eyes that made him suspect that he'd seen it.
“I don't actually know what you do for work, you know, Yagyuu.”
He turned to his coffee and took a sip. As perfect as ever, he noted. “Nothing much. I work for the government.”
Niou rested his chin on his hand and looked at him. “Yukimura says you're a policeman.”
Yagyuu paused again. “Why are you asking then, if Yukimura-kun has already told you?”
That just got him a shrug and Niou looked away. “I don't know. I just wanted to hear it from you, I guess.” Niou pushed his cake slightly towards Yagyuu who shook his head at the silent offer.
“Yes, I'm a policeman. And Sanada-kun is my partner. We've been working together for quite a few years.”
Niou looked brightly expectant again and he cut off a bit more of his cake, eating it before he spoke again. “And what sort of things do you do? Stopping armed robberies? Saving cats from trees? Shooting down back guys?”
Yagyuu laughed softly. “Nothing quite like that. Just trying to keep the city safe.”
-
He hadn't expected to see Niou outside of the coffee shop.
Perhaps some awful part of him just thought that Niou lived in the coffee shop, hooked up to a power point or something while the store was closed.
He'd asked once, if Niou had dreams at night when he slept, only to get a strange look and Niou admitting that he didn't sleep, instead just shutting down for a few hours and letting himself idle out. He had an apartment, but it was apparently little more than a hole in the wall.
Yagyuu most definitely hadn't expected to see him while he was on duty, at night, the taste of the muffin still in his mouth as he stared at Niou, paces away. His fingers went limp and the android head fell out of his grip to hit the ground.
Did androids know that this was happening, he wondered. Surely they had to know about androids going rogue, no matter how hard they and the manufacturing companies tried to cover it up.
What did they feel when they saw one of their own having their head torn off, the only way to truly deactivate them?
Did they even know about that?
…
Looking at Niou's face as he stared silently at Yagyuu, he had a feeling he didn't need to ask anyone.
-
There was awkwardness.
There was always going to be awkwardness, no matter how well Niou tried to hide it. No matter how his emotions were somehow, unexplainably so natural it was uncanny and no matter how mechanical of emotions he could fall back on, he was always going to show it.
The first sign was the lack of artwork in his coffee the next time they showed up, the lack of free muffin forced on him with the usual bevy of excuses as he left. He didn't let himself walk back in and buy one, not wanting to face the too observant blue eyes of Niou and his owner.
He asked Tezuka if androids could have their memories removed, or at least certain parts of it. “Of course we can, it's just programming,” was the answer he received.
But even knowing this, he didn't... couldn't bring himself to ask Yukimura to change anything for him. Instead of watched Niou in the shop and seeing the glances he got all too often over the top of the coffee machine. Niou always looked away whenever he realised Yagyuu was looking, pretending like he hadn't been looking back at him.
They never spoke about what happened and eventually the coffees were placed down with words instead of silence, the smiles came back, with a wary edge to them and Niou very carefully fell back into the routine from before. Yagyuu let himself relax slightly.
The first time he got given a paper bag and artwork in his latte was more of a relief than he'd expected it to be.
Even if the hearts were back to being replaced with leaves and odd doodles of characters. And even if it was a slice of cake in the bag instead of the muffin he'd grown so used to.
He could almost let himself believe that somehow, Niou had forgotten. Was there limited memory capacity in him, perhaps? A lack of long-term memory, maybe. Yagyuu didn't know.
Tezuka was unhelpful this time as well, saying that he'd have to meet Niou if Yagyuu wanted a proper analysis of him and his specifications.
And hearing that, made Yagyuu consider Niou more closely, though he'd refused the offer of an analysis, by Tezuka or from any other android in the department.
The specifics didn't really matter, he decided, stirring his once again love-hearted foam into his coffee.
-
“Are you sure you're an android, Niou-kun?”
Niou paused and handed the usual brown bag over to him with a smile. “What else could I be?”
Yagyuu considered him for a long moment and Niou just stared back at him patiently. “I don't know. Sometimes I could believe you're human.”
That made Niou laugh and Yagyuu felt quite foolish for even saying it aloud. He of all people should be aware of the differences.
“Was seeing my serial number not enough for you? Should I pull off my arm to prove to you I'm one?” Niou gripped his forearm and for a crazy moment Yagyuu almost thought that he was about to go through with his words.
Niou moved closer, his hand sliding up Yagyuu's arm to grip his shoulder, leaning in close and lowering his voice. “Or maybe I should remove my head?”
There was a darker tone to his voice that Yagyuu had never heard before from him and jerking away to look at him in surprise, Yagyuu realised Niou had never forgotten after all.
But just as easily as he'd said it, Niou laughed and stepped away, his entire demeanor changing in the blink of an eye. “But what're you asking that for? What makes you think that?”
“Just a few things. Your emotions. You smile a lot for an android.”
Niou laughed again and Yagyuu felt all more the foolish, though he stared at Niou's face as he quietened down.
“Is that all it takes to be human, then? Wouldn't that mean that you're more likely an android than I am, Yagyuu?”
His hand came up to brush against the skin just beneath Yagyuu's ear. Where, he realised, a serial number would be if he was indeed an android. He tried to hide the hitch in his breathing, how his neck flushed a little as he pushed away Niou's hand.
Niou just smiled at him some more and patted the bag. “Something for you to think about? Have fun at work today.”
FIN