Part Twenty-One: Glasses

Three days remain.

...

"Uh, Nozomi-kun?" a familiar voice knocked on the door to Nozomi's apartment, "It's almost 10, are you awake?"

No response. Roboco began to get worried, so she grabbed the doorknob. It was unlocked. She jumped in surprise, taking some time to compose herself.

"I'm coming in," she announced, slowly turning the knob to the door. When she opened the door, she found the teenager quietly dozing on his bed, his arms and legs outspread, his bedsheets thrown out of place, and his jet black hair ruffled disorderlily. She took a long look at the boy.

'He looks much different without glasses…' Roboco thought. As she thought this, she noticed the black-framed glasses on his nightstand. Her face flushed red as she looked curiously at the pair of lenses. Tiptoeing towards them as not to interrupt the boy's slumber, she hesitated. Looking long and hard at the glasses, she sighed and took off her own glasses, putting them on the nightstand next to Nozomi's. She then grabbed Nozomi's glasses with her shaky hands, gulping and putting them to her yellow eyes.

'They're…' Roboco thought, 'Comfy…'

"Ngh," Nozomi grunted, slowly opening his eyes, "Tamashi, what'd you say…?"

"A-ah!" Roboco panicked, the blush on her face reddening even further.

"H-huh?!" Nozomi quickly opened his eyes when he saw his robot crush in his room, his face equally as red as hers, "Roboco-chan?!"

"I'm so sorry, Nozomi-kun!" Roboco clapped her hands together, "I was worried about you since you were sleeping in, so I went inside and-"

"Wait, are those my glasses?" Nozomi asked.

"I… uh…" Roboco stammered, "Well, yes, they are."

"They look good on you," Nozomi smirked, "How's the prescription on your eyes?"

"They match up to mine surprisingly well," Roboco relayed, "I can see fine."

"Then I think I'll try on your glasses," Nozomi said smugly, taking the girl's glasses from the nightstand. Before the girl had time to object, the black-haired teen had already put her glasses on his face.

"You're right, I can see quite nicely," Nozomi grinned, "How do I look?"

"Very charming," Roboco smiled warmly, "You remind me of my in… my… inv…"

Roboco's smile dropped, and she slowly began to shake with a terrified expression covering her face. Nozomi's smile also dropped as he witnessed this.

"Roboco-chan! Are you alright?!" he asked, putting his hands on the girl's shoulders.

"Pesar… hakase…" Roboco muttered with a blank expression as she drifted into unconsciousness. Nozomi panicked, picking up the girl and carrying her in his arms.

'Tamashi, do you have any idea what the hell is going on?!' Nozomi asked his Echo.

"No idea," Tamashi responded with urgence, "But we need to get help. Take her to YAGOO. He was the one that found her, right?"

'Oh yeah, you're right,' Nozomi recalled his first conversation with Roboco, 'Let's go!'

The boy dashed out of his door, Roboco in his arms.

...

He barged into the Cover Corporation offices, dashing through hallways and finding himself in the meeting room.

"YAGOO!" he shouted, looking at the middle-aged man.

"Roboco!" he said, quickly moving to see the robot girl, "What happened to her?"

"I'm not sure!" Nozomi shook his head, "We were just talking and she started acting weird all of a sudden, and then she just collapsed!"

"You did a good thing bringing her here," YAGOO said, trying to return to a calm demeanor, "I'll take a look at her. You stay over there."

"Alright," Nozomi nodded, still quite worried about the situation. He swallowed these feelings and went over to a nearby chair to sort out his thoughts.

"Hey man, you alright?" Tamashi asked.

'I'll…' Nozomi began, 'I'll be alright… she's in good hands…'

"You don't have to put up a strong front, Nozomi," Tamashi sighed, "It's not good for you."

"Nozomi?" a familiar oni girl came over to console the boy, "Are you okay?"

"A-Ayame-chan, hello," Nozomi stammered, trying to force a smile, "I'm fine…"

"Don't be like that," Ayame replied disappointedly, "We tease you a lot, but we know you really care for her. How are you really feeling?"

"How I'm really feeling…?" Nozomi muttered, "I'm… really fuckin' worried… I might throw up…"

"That's… gross…" Ayame's face visibly contorted, "But I'm glad you're being honest with me. It's tough seeing the people you love in pain. I know that more than most people…"

"Is she gonna be okay?" Nozomi asked.

"YAGOO's trying his best to work on her," Ayame informed, "I can assure you that."

"That's good enough for me," Nozomi nodded, "Thank you, Ayame-chan."

"Yeah, anytime," Ayame smiled sweetly.

...

"I'm sorry for worrying everyone," Roboco apologized with small beads of tears forming in her eyes.

"No, don't be," Nozomi went up to her, "This wasn't your choice, I understand that."

"B-but I made you sad," Roboco looked down, "Friends aren't supposed to do that, right?"

"It's okay, I promise," Nozomi assured her.

"Okay…" Roboco sighed, turning to look at YAGOO. Nozomi did the same.

"Roboco's systems briefly crashed due to an unknown error, but I was able to reactivate them using an external power source," YAGOO explained, "Still though, I don't feel comfortable with having her in the Mirror today. How about we stay here today and let Roboco recover? We'll go over our plan tomorrow, and then execute it the next day."

"That's fine…" Nozomi sighed, despite his wishes to go into the Mirror.

"Good," YAGOO nodded, "If anything else happens to her, let me know."

"I will," Nozomi agreed, taking Roboco by the hand and leaving the office.

...

"For the last time, Roboco, it isn't your fault…" Nozomi groaned.

"If it wasn't my fault, then who's fault was it?" Roboco asked, "I made you all so scared…"

"It was an accident, Roboco," Nozomi said, "I promise you didn't do anything wrong. I swear it on my father's grave!"

"H-huh?" Roboco stuttered, surprised, "Your father is dead…?"

"Oh, yeah, haha," Nozomi chuckled sheepishly, "He's been dead for a few years now. He was the founder of Ito Technologies, if you've heard of them. They say it was a work accident that took his life.

"Although…" Nozomi looked towards the sky, "I'm starting to wonder if that's really the truth."

"What do you mean?" Roboco asked.

"Well, there's clearly a lot I don't know, considering those doppelgangers of me that were in the Mirror," Nozomi explained, "And I can't help but feel like my father has something to do with it. He was always so absorbed in his work, and beyond the fact that he was killed by a 'work accident', we have no idea what killed him. He's just… so suspicious."

"I see," Roboco nodded, "That certainly does make sense."

The two walked in silence for a few moments before Roboco decided to break the silence.

"Since I'm a robot, I wouldn't have a biological father," Roboco smiled sadly, "But I have to have an inventor. But I don't know who that is, since I woke up in that wasteland without my memories."

"I'm sure you'll find them someday," Nozomi assured, "It's not like you appeared out of thin air."

"You're right, it's just frustrating sometimes," Roboco expressed, "I wish I had a family."

"But you do, Roboco," Nozomi said nonchalantly.

"Wh- what do you mean?" Roboco asked confusedly.

"Well, you've got me, YAGOO, A-chan and the rest of the managers, and the rest of the Hololive girls," Nozomi explained, "It might not be biological, but you've got a family that cares a lot about you, Roboco."

"I…" Roboco stammered, "Do you really think that way?"

"Of course," Nozomi nodded.

Roboco's smile got wider and her blush began to grow, suddenly squeezing the boy in a tight embrace. Nozomi, shocked by the sudden motion, hesitated to hug her back.

"Come on, man, hug!" Tamashi urged.

Y-yeah! Nozomi agreed, wrapping her arms around the robot girl. The two shared a long warm embrace, clutching onto each other affectionately.

...

"So, you're a shrine maiden?" Connor asked the odd miko, "And you think shrine spirits well help us?"

"Yeah, I do!" Miko nodded her head, smirking, "In fact, I have a talisman right here that should do the trick!"

"Oh really?" Miyabi looked up curiously, "May I take a look at it?"

"Mm-hmm!" Miko nodded, handing a block of wood with a piece of paper tied to it. Upon closer inspection, the paper had an unfamiliar Japanese character inscribed onto it.

"Ah, clever!" Miyabi smiled, "Fujin's blessing! We should be able to blend in with the wind with this!"

"Woah, really?!" Ironmouse gasped, "That's awesome!"

"Wait, but we're going to be going in from underground with Miyabi's powers, right?" Connor said, "Waiting in the wind for the right moment is well and good, but what about when we need to go underground?"

"Hmmm…" Miko pondered before pulling out another talisman, this one different to the one she pulled out before. Miyabi took it and grinned.

"I see," Miyabi nodded, "Hachiman's blessing. We can stay in the ground undetected for a short while with this."

"Then it's a plan," Connor nodded. The others nodded as well, smirking due to the plan they cooked up.