To the day forward... Always

“That, that clearly was not a bee… I’m almost sure his eye fell off.”

I say, looking away, my mind still reeling from the memories of my past. I know what I saw, even though it was gruesome enough to make my mind drift off for a moment.

Sigh. “Yeah, it… quite fell off, but don’t worry, he’s okay, look.”

I hesitantly look at Lucil, who is covering his eye with one hand, still in a bit of pain, as Limer is talking to him while crouched down in front of him.

“Hey, take your hand off! This is amazing! What edition did she put on? Is it an Atlas model or something of the 10th generation? Hey, let me see, please!”

Limer says, trying to pull Lucil’s hand away from his eye. When he finally lets her see, his eye looks exactly like the other one. She smiles happily and then says,

“I’m so jealous! Getting a mechanical prosthesis isn’t for everyone! Hahaha, man, you should be more cautious. How did you not cover your face from the wind? Oh, this is hilarious! You lost an eye just because of some bee at sonic speed!”

Lucil is looking at her, watching her laugh as if regretting being friendly. Then Johan speaks calmly to Limer,

“Don’t be so insensitive. Having a prosthesis isn’t as amazing as you think. Let the guy recover from all that.”

Cali, who is now examining me closely, scanning every inch of my body, says to them,

“He’s right. Even though he’s not in danger of dying right now, this is still a big loss. I used most of the lost eye to make his new one, so he should recover quickly. Do you have some medical assistance of your own? If you don’t, you can come to me at Layla’s home so I can do the rest of the treatment…”

I look at her in surprise. I don’t want him coming to our house anytime soon. She looks at me with a stern expression, as if not going to let me object, and then she says softly to me,

“You’re in a state of shock. Let’s go to the train so we can go home, okay? We can deal with all that another time.”

We go back inside the train. Lucil is now sitting next to Johan, and Limer is right next to him. I think Limer apologized to Lucil or something; she’s looking at him more gently now. Johan joins their conversation, showing off his own mechanical arm and its capabilities. Besides his arm, a good part of his torso also looks metallic. Lucil is now smiling as he’s with them despite everything that just happened. He doesn’t look so frustrated about the loss of his right eye anymore.

I watch them talking. Is it like nothing happened? I wonder if Lucil truly cares about it all. It probably was painful.

“So, yeah, it still hurts a bit, but it’s not too bad after Cali treated me. It was all so fast that I didn’t even notice the pain.”

Limer looks at him with a smirk and asks,

“So, what are your new eye’s abilities? Do you have internet access without needing a lens now?”

She asks this as she gets her bag and searches inside, pulling out a globe that she puts over one of her eyes as she says,

“I don’t like the feeling when I put it on, but it’s pretty fun to use its abilities. Go on, tell me. Can you change your eye design, like Johan’s arm? Oh, oh, can you play games on it?”

They continue this exchange for a while. Limer is clearly excited about Lucil’s new eye. Sigh. I lean back in the train chair as Cali sits beside me, slightly worried, and asks me,

“I know how you feel about those things, but it’s part of life. Incidents happen. I mean, even if I wasn’t there, there would have been other units to help him. Don’t be so down. He’s happy, you see?”

I just fidget with the hem of my uniform shirt a bit, and after a moment, the train shifts, and Cali and I are already back home. Then I say to her,

“I’m not down this time.”

I start to leave the train. Cali just tells Lucil to come to her if he needs anything and goes with me to our home.

“Yeah, it was fun today, Ms. Cali. I think I’ll come here for a checkup sometime. Thanks a lot for the tour.”

I say goodbye to everyone one last time, and as soon as the train disappears from our sight, Cali sighs and says, looking slightly depressed,

“Oh, I feel so guilty. He looked so happy to come with us. I wanted to show you a little bit of the story behind robots and more, but it ended with a failed presentation and a student hurt. Ohhh, God.”

She says and starts to sob slightly as she comes toward me, looking genuinely sad, as she says,

“I’m truly sorry, Layla. Let’s get inside already. You can relax for the rest of the day. You’ll probably need some time to process everything. Do you want something? How are you feeling?”

After this barrage of questions, I go inside with her as she starts to prepare dinner, even though the sun hasn’t fully set yet. I go inside and sit at the table as I start to say,

“I don’t know exactly yet. After that blood, everything was slow to me. I started having some memories of the past—the time I almost hurt Jaya.”

I continue to explain to her everything that happened and how I felt at that moment. She just listens as I speak. Somehow, I feel like I’m talking to a wall.

“I see. I’m sorry about that too. I should have been more careful about the public profiles back then.”

She sighs again, this time deeply, and says, still looking sad,

“It’s okay if you want to replace me with another robot. I’m clearly not good enough for you…”

I look at her with a raised eyebrow as I say, slightly annoyed,

“Oh no, what do you mean by that? You’re just playing the victim. Haven’t you told me that was wrong? Besides, you already know too much of my life to simply step out of it like this. Another robot would never be as good as you!”

My tail and ears stiffen as I see her smirking widely after I say that. I realize what I just said to her as she starts to say playfully,

“Own, I’m irreplaceable! Oh, Layla, please no! I’m your personal assistant, and I’m a robot. I can’t have relationships with a human. This is so wrong. Our parents would never agree with such a thing.”

I get even more annoyed than before. I just scoff, turning my head away while she dramatizes so exaggeratedly. Robots are so amazing; they can even control their feelings so well. I wonder if I’ll be able to control my own feelings and instincts someday. But, like, I can try, can’t I?

“Oh, but Cali, you were always so caring to me. My heart beats faster every time you’re around.”

I say as I get up and go closer to her, still acting, as I take her hands, coming closer to her. I look at her as I say, my acting not as perfect as it could be, but I think I was able to make a good impression by Cali’s reaction. Her mouth is slightly agape in surprise as I continue,

“Your perfect and shiny eyes draw me closer and closer. I can barely hold my feelings, oh, Cali.”

As soon as I stop this acting, I just turn my face away slightly, the embarrassment getting the best of me as I hold her hands closer. Then she looks to blush slightly too, with a tiny smile of… pride? She then covers her mouth as she murmurs,

“Want to… take acting classes at Alias?”