Shutting Down
The next day he woke up… alone.
Without her, he instantly felt empty.
Feeling dead, he gets called by professor.
“Ai, come out there.”
The professor tells him.
“Hey professor.. tell me…
Where is Lily…?”
With his expression completely
emotionless, he asked him.
“Oh, Emily? I asked her to buy something.”
The professor lied to him.
“I see.”
He shuts his eyes and
clutches his chest.
“The pain..”
He whispers.
“I never thought I would feel it.”
He prepares himself and goes out.
“Ai, wait for me in the laboratory.
I’ll go prepare some things.”
The professor ordered him.
“Yes, professor.”
Ai answered him weakly.
Meanwhile, in the place where
Ai took her on her birthday…
She keeps touching the necklace
that Ai gave her as a present.
“Ai-kun.. I’m sorry.. I’m so sorry..”
She tears up as she apologizes.
“I love you so much, I don’t want you to die.
Ai, I want you to live, even without me…
I’m sure you will be once again happy.
If we didn’t stop, you could’ve died.
Both of you and Aine-kun may die.
I don’t want that… I want you to be happy…”
“A sacrifice…”
Someone interrupted her.
“T-That voice.. R-Reiji-kun…!?”
She wonders as she looks.
“Yeah.”
Reiji forcedly smiled at her.
“What are you doing here..?”
She asked him sadly.
“I was looking for you to ask about Ai-Ai.”
Reiji told her.
“Oh.. I see… about Ai-kun and Aine..
You know, right?”
Lily asked him weakly.
“Yeah, I do.”
He nodded.
“Ai-kun… will be reformatted…”
Lily cried as he told him.
“W-What..?!”
Reiji is surprised.
“He will be.. in order to live.
He can’t live with me anymore..
I need to be erased from his life..”
Lily cried even more.
“Why is that..? No, no.. no! That’s just
horrible… Ai-chan won’t be happy
without you! He’ll go back to his
emotionless self and he won’t be
able to feel emotions again without you!”
Reiji’s sadness bursted.
“I lost Aine before because I was useless.
I don’t want to lose another friend.”
He continues.
“But it’s better than being dead!!!
Ai-kun can start again!!! Even without
me. The next time he loves, I hope he
doesn’t overheat again and the same
cycle starts over again. I don’t want
that… If he lives, he gets a chance
to start again. I just want him to live.”
She continues to cry as she tells him off.
“I guess… you’re right. It’s better
than not being alive. To live means
to get another chance. But…
What about you, Lily-chan?
You know how much you love him.
Won’t you be so broken? You might..
Change.. into something bad..”
Reiji falls silent and then worries about her.
“I’ll be sure to stay okay, even if
can just watch him from afar,
that’s more than enough…”
She sadly tells him.
“What do I tell our group mates?
And most of all, Saotome?”
Reiji asks her calmly.
“I don’t know… maybe you can ask
our professor about that.. or tell
them he’s got amnesia or something..”
Lily wipes her tears as she tries to help.
“I see. I’ll leave you alone for now…
I’m sorry to hear all of this, Lily-chan.
I just hope… everything turns well in the end.”
Reiji pats her shoulder and then leaves.
Now that she is alone, she breaks down again.
Saying his name over and over again,
the tears never ran out.
Her heart keeps aching.
“I love you forever.”
Meanwhile,
at the professor’s laboratory…
Ai’s staring at Aine’s cell.
He places his hands on it,
as if trying to touch Aine.
But then the professor steps in
and interrupts Ai.
“Ai, it’s time for your maintenance.
Get inside that cell.”
The professor pointed at a cell next
to Aine’s and ordered Ai to get in.
“Professor, my maintenance didn’t
require this before…”
Ai sadly tells him.
“Oh?”
Speechless for a second,
the professor thinks.
“Um.. today is a special maintenance.
Now get in there before you overheat again.”
He lied again and ordered him.
“Is Lily not here yet?”
Ai asks about her again.
“No, she’ll take a few more hours
before she gets back. Don’t worry,
after this, you’ll surely see her again.”
Another lie came out from the professor’s mouth.
“Lily…”
His expression became too sad,
as if he was about to cry anytime.
He gets inside the cell and it closes immediately.
While watching Ai, the professor feels bad within.
He thinks in his mind,
“(Sorry about this.)”
Ai’s cell is slowly being filled
by chemicals and also water.
He stares at Aine.
“(Is this… the end? Lily, I love you.)”
Ai says it all in his head.
But then…
Aine opens his eyes.
And stares back at Ai.
“You are a weakling who depends on love.”
Aine’s voice echoed inside Ai’s mind.
As he heard those words from Aine,
Ai suddenly moves because of pain.
And he breathes in some of the water.
But since he’s a robot, that water is bad for him.
Luckily, he didn’t breathe in too much.
“Ai, what’s wrong?”
The professor wondered.
“…! Aine is….!”
He notices that Aine is awake.
“That’s not true, I am not a weakling.
I’m actually very strong because of love.
Lily made me strong and a better person.
Unlike you, you weren’t loved by anyone..
They only loved you as an idol. But you didn’t
have anyone to be actually by your side.
That’s why.. you felt lonely. And you wanted
to end your misery by committing suicide.
Aine Kisaragi, you are… the real weak one!”
Ai didn’t allow Aine to say such things to him,
he defended ‘love’ and argued with Aine.
They communicated in their mind through their links.
However, Aine is speechless. He realized that..
this robot, who knows what it is to love…
is right.
Ai is right.
Then, after that, Aine shut his eyes again.
Falling back into his deep slumber.
While the professor already activated it.
He’s already beginning to reformat Ai.
Ai suddenly felt it.
The agonizing pain.
All his memories of her…
flashed back in his head.
How they first met…
“Ai, I want you to meet someone.”
The professor walked in and told him.
“Who is it?”
Ai asked emotionlessly.
Lily walks in and is also expressionless.
She looks at him… and so did he.
They locked their eyes on each other.
“This is Ms.Emily Venus, she will be
my assistant now and she will be
the one in charge of taking care of you.”
The professor introduced her to him.
“I see, so you’re Ai. Nice to meet you.”
Lily forced a smile as she greeted him.
“Yeah. Nice to meet you too.”
Ai went along and greeted her too.
But both are…
Emotionless.
How she took care of him everyday…
How she communicated with him…
How she taught him… slowly…
“Ai-kun, it’s time for your maintenance.”
“Ai-kun, you need to sleep soon,
You still need to rest your body, okay?”
“Ai-kun, don’t touch that, it’s dangerous!”
“Ai-kun, you can’t eat this…..”
Her voice, calling out his name…
echoed all over inside his mind.
When he asked her to dance for the first time..
When she supported his singing career..
When she stood up for him..
When they admired the snow together,
watched the fireworks together…
When he realized how much he misses her..
When he realized his world began to revolve around her.
When he admires her hair.
When he surprised her on his favorite day, her birthday.
When she began acting strange around him..
When he realized he loves her too.
When he confessed to her.
When they first kissed.
When they finally became lovers..
When they stood up for each other…
How they were always there for each other.
An image of her pops up in his visions.
He smiles as he admires her from a distance.
He was imagining that she was right in front of him.
But then, a reminder blocks his vision and reminds
him that she’s not there at all.
“DELETING DATA”
And without realizing it,
he shed tears.
He touched his cheeks,
since he felt it being wet.
“Tears…?
What…
Am I…
Crying…?”
He wonders.
He forces a smile.
“Yes, I am.
I’ve always been.”
And for the first time…
The robot…
shed tears.
Knowing that…
they’ll erase all his memories of HER.
“No…”
“DON’T GO.”
He reaches his hand out to that image of her…
that image that was slowly fading away.
“I love you.”
Chapter 23 -
Shutting Down