Be With You Forever

I woke up gasping for air as a heavy weight on my chest made it hard to breathe. I tapped on Peko a few times to wake him up. A single eye opened up and flicked towards me. I watched as Peko slowly licked up the drool from around his mouth. After a long wait, Peko finally got up and almost purred. It took me a little to get enough breath in to speak.

“Morning Peko.”

“Morning Ayaka.”

Peko’s voice tickled my ears and sent a little shiver through my body. I couldn’t believe that I woke up to this every day, but I couldn’t just lay in bed the entire day, I needed to make sure Peko got something to eat. Breakfast was simple enough since I just needed to bring out the food. Peko gobbled it up just like that. With that done, I quickly cleaned up the room. As I folded up my futon, a piece of metal fell to the ground. When did I buy that? Oh well, I decided to put it against the window for the time being.

It took me a few minutes, but with everything ready, I started out the door before waving to Peko.

“See you later, Peko.”

“Have a good day, Ayaka.”

It really was a good day. Getting to hear Peko’s voice was probably the best part of my day. I was in so much bliss that I barely noticed when I reached the library. Kaede and Meiko rushed over when they saw me enter.

“Ayaka, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you certain you are okay? I am a little bit worried.”

“Yes, I had a lot of fun feeding Peko.”

“Peko? I think Meiko mentioned something yesterday about you getting a pet.”

I nodded. I wanted to go home and put Peko so badly, but I needed to work and provide food for Peko. I supposed that talking about Peko was the next best thing. I could talk about Peko for days. How his skin felt so smooth, cool, and slimy. How great it felt hugging him and petting him. So, I talked about him.

“Uh, Ayaka. You’ve really… changed.”

“You never seemed like the type, but wow, you really like Peko. Almost creepily so.”

“Kaede!”

“Oh, but that isn’t a bad thing. I’m happy you found something to be passionate about.”

“We do need to hurry and open, but I really am happy you found something you love so much.”

“Yes.”

I thought about it for a minute and decided that I needed to share my love for Peko. I’d be a little sad to not have Peko all to myself, but Peko was too great to keep to myself.

“Do you two want to come over tonight? I’d love to introduce you two to Peko. I’d be happy to have you two over for dinner.”

“I’m sorry, Ayaka. I have plans already. Maybe another time.”

“That is unfortunate. Some other time then. Meiko?”

“I think I can manage if it is a little bit. I don’t know if I can stay for too long though.”

“That is great. I’m sure I can make you a great meal.”

It was going to be great. Peko would definitely love to have Meiko over. I ended up so lost in my thoughts of how to make the best meal that I barely noticed that our shift was over. Actually, I barely noticed that we were already back at my apartment. It felt like I was forgetting something, but I couldn’t place what. If I couldn’t remember, it couldn’t be that important though. I opened the door to let Meiko in and then locked it behind us.

“Peko. Are you home?”

“Ayaka, you brought guest?”

“What is this? Ayaka? What the heck is this?”

Why was Meiko looking past me with such fear in her eyes? Strange. What was there to be scared of? Meiko slowly backed up while trembling until she finally hit the door. She fumbled for the handle for a little bit, but I had already locked it. She didn’t need to worry about that. It was safe here. Peko would protect me.

“Meiko, please meet Peko. Peko, this is Meiko. We are having her over for dinner today.”

“Dinner? Ayaka? What are you saying? Please let me out. You need to run too.”

“Don’t worry Meiko. Peko will make you all better. I promise you that I have the best plan for dinner. I know just how to prepare the meat.”

“No. This can’t be happening. You aren’t Ayaka! Don’t do this!”

How odd. Why was Meiko trying to run? Why was she screaming? She was not behaving rationally.

“Meiko, are you okay? Are you feeling ill? I don’t understand why you are running. There isn’t any place here to run, you know?”

“No. I don’t want this. Please, Ayaka. We are friends, aren’t we?”

“Of course we are friends. That is why I’m going to make you the best meal. I promise you that it will be perfect. It will be so beautiful.”

“Ayaka, pretty food.”

“See? Even Peko agrees.”

Meiko was bolting for the balcony? Odd. Why was she so frantically trying to open it? She’s going to hurt herself if this keeps up. Oh, she opened the window. Ah, the metal thing fell off. Looks like the sound of metal cracking snapped Meiko out of her panic.

“Peko, help me. We can’t let her fall down.”

“Okay, Ayaka.”

Peko wrapped her arms around Meiko, but Meiko began to struggle again.

“No, Ayaka, please. Let go of me. No, wait, you can’t be Ayaka.”

“Meiko, I think you are confused. That is Peko, not me.”

“Meiko, tasty food.”

Peko set Meiko down on the table. Since Peko was taking care of Meiko, I figured I’d get dinner prepared. I carefully plated the meat along with some side dishes and rice. I spent a good amount of time trying to make it perfect since I had a guest over. After a few minutes, I had her features down perfectly. The plates looked just like the real thing. I stared at my work proudly before taking the plates over to Peko.

“Huh? Why did I make three plates? Sorry Peko, I wasn’t thinking. Should we save one for breakfast? You can have two tonight.”

“Okay.”

I gave Peko a good petting for being such a good girl before I went and put away the extra dish. I don’t know why it felt like I was missing something, but it couldn’t be that important. I returned to put away the dishes that Peko had finished then we resumed our nightly cuddles. We had fun braiding each other’s hair and even playing with some ribbon that was on the floor for some reason. I didn’t remember buying such a ribbon before, but it looked familiar, so maybe I had bought it some long time ago.

With our play done, I turned off the lights and laid in the bed with Peko.

“Ayaka?”

“Yes Peko?”

“Peko is satisfied with you. You will be with Peko forever. It can be just you and Peko. Okay?”

“Of course, Peko.”

I caressed her hair gently as the two neon pink eyes peered into mine. Yes, all I needed was Peko.

That positively glowing smile widened.