[Omake] Sumie and Rito 6

July 24th, U.C. 0167, 5:10 AM

The sun had yet to rise as Hayate and Wataru entered a warehouse near the southwest edge of the city. It was one of many warehouses close to the largest opening in the GINZUISHOU, used to store shipments to and from the outside world. The airship Hakone Maru, the cargo vessel Wataru had returned on, was moored just outside.

“They’re in the back,” Wataru said. “Just play it like we rehearsed.”

They carefully walked down the aisles, dodging worker robots as they went. These robots were not nearly as intelligent as the gynoids, and hadn’t been programmed to avoid humans. Wataru waved to Kiki and the other two demons as they approached, but before she could return the gesture, doors flung open at every entrance to the warehouse and meido spilled in. Hayate grabbed Wataru and pinned him against a large shipping container, leaving enough space for the meido to pass them. The first meido to reach the demons pointed their swords at them, but the demons cast spells to pull the swords from their grasps.

“Mahou shoujo!” the closest meido yelled, retreating. A few meido all around the warehouse lobbed small orbs towards the demons. They clattered to the ground and began to emit Minovsky particles. It was a needless precaution, since the demons’ magic was still limited by the spells Élisabeth had placed on them. Their sword skills, however, were as sharp as they had ever been, and for a few minutes, it looked like they might actually be able to force their way out of the warehouse, but there were too many meido for them to handle, and they were captured in short order.

“Is this Wataru-san?” a meido asked Hayate. “We’ll take him from here. Good job, Hayate-san.”

“What? No!” Wataru yelled.

“Wataru,” Hayate said, gripping Wataru’s shoulders, “we’re the only ones who can mamoru you from the Soviets now.”

“Fuck you,” Wataru said, but the resistance faded from him, and he allowed the meido to lead him away.

⁂

11:05 AM

“Don’t we have professional interrogators for this?” Aina complained to her gynoid secretary as she walked down the hallway of a secure HIMITSU facility. “This isn’t even my op.”

“They are mahou shoujo, and we need information from them quickly. Lives are at stake.”

“OK, but I’m counting on you to reschedule my afternoon.” She turned the doorknob and walked into the room where the demons were being held. Closing the door behind her, she took a moment to inspect the demons. They looked familiar, but she couldn’t immediately place it. “Omae-tachi,” she gasped, recognizing them as former members of Koharu’s special forces.

“Aina-sama,” Kiki blurted out, fear evident in her voice. “Please don’t kill us. We beg you.” Élisabeth had planted a suggestion in their minds to seek out Aina once they returned to Earth. Recognizing that Élisabeth was trying to get them killed, they had resolved to avoid Aina at all costs.

“That’s a big ask. First you fail to take out Élisabeth-san, forcing me to deal with her personally, and now you try to undermine my organization?”

“Moushiwake arimasen,” Kiki sobbed. “We didn’t know HIMITSU was yours now. Please, let us make it up to you.”

“I’ll consider it, if you tell my investigators everything they want to know.”

⁂

July 27th, U.C. 0167, 2:01 PM

“I have no excuse,” Sumie said. “It was a complete failure on my part.” The two of them were alone in Aina’s office, with Aina sitting at her desk and Sumie standing opposite. “I have already submitted my resignation, and I will accept any additional punishment.”

“Officially, that resignation will be accepted,” Aina informed her, “as will the resignations of your staff. Unofficially, however, I want you to continue working for us.”

“Under you, this time?”

“Iie, I see no need to turn this into an internal power-struggle. The hundreds of moles your operation placed around the sekai are no longer useful to us, and it cost us a lot to recover and protect them, but in exchange, we were able to compromise a Soviet network operating in the machi and get a much better idea of how they operate. This is being seen as a net positive, and I don’t want to sour that.”

“I am glad that something good has come from my mistake, but I am nevertheless sorry that you were forced to clean up after it.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. No one could have seen this coming.” Aina picked up a small plastic bag and handed it to Sumie. “Nani does this look like to you?”

“It appears to be a very small hair.”

“It’s a Soviet transmitter. They were embedded in ichi of your receptionists. We still have no idea how they got there, but we believed her when she said she didn’t know about them.”

“Regardless, the Soviets knew to target her. That can only be due to a failure on my part.”

“Ee. You were betrayed by one of your colleague’s patients. He leaned on him a bit too hard without realizing it. In my opinion, one of you should have noticed this, but you had both taken on so many patients that you couldn’t invest enough time in any of them.”

“I can’t argue with any of that,” Sumie had taken on a high caseload in order to place as many moles as she could as quickly as possible, knowing that success would be her only defense once Aina learned of the program. Informing Aina of this, however, wouldn’t improve the situation, so she kept quiet.

“I’m glad we’re in agreement. Here’s how we’re going to proceed. We’re going to give you a moderate severance, and you’re going to use it to establish your own practice. You’re going to have to be frugal and resourceful. If we give you too much okane, it will be obvious that we’re bankrolling you, but we’ll find ways to get you funds that appear to originate from other sources.”

“I thought you didn’t approve of my methods.”

“I still have reservations, but I can’t deny their efficacy. It was one of your assets who led us to the Soviets. The young otoko who tried to attack me with a pen. I was impressed you were able to turn him to our side so completely. This time, I want you to do the same thing with fewer patients. I’m willing to invest the time for a handful of high-quality assets. In fact, for the first few years, I want you to run a real practice in order to throw the Soviets off your trail. Do some unmitigated good on my dime.”

“For how long?”

“That really depends on the Soviets. I want to say san years, but it could be longer. I’m willing to fund you for as long as it takes. I’ll be doing the same thing with some of your colleagues, and I’ll use the others to set up fake operations and draw the Soviets’ attention. Are you in?”

“I did say I would accept any punishment, and obeying your meirei certainly qualifies,” Sumie joked.

“Ii.” Aina smiled. “While I have you here, I thought you might like to see this.” She pulled a sheet of paper from the drawer and handed it to Sumie. “It’s the list of yes votes on the marriage bill. I had to twist a lot of arms, but gynoids will be granted the same rights as minna else.”

“There are some real hardliners on this list. That must have cost you a lot of political capital. How many hito did you have to kill?”

“Zero, this time. I didn’t want a law about love to be marred by killing. Demo, you’re right. I had to make a lot of threats, and they only work so many times before you have to make good on them. This is going to make passing further reforms more difficult in the future, but it’s worth it.”

“If there is anything I can do to assist you in that area, I am at your disposal.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Aina stood up. “By the way, would you convey my apologies to Rito-san?”

“For?”

“It was wrong of me to threaten to separate you. It was the only leverage I had, but it was still hypocritical. Rito-san conveyed to me that your relationship is similar to my friendship with Sena-chan. Most others can’t wakaru why we prefer each other’s company, and I should have been more understanding of why you and Rito-san prefer to live together.”

“I don’t think you really wakaru. Your relationship with Sena-sama is platonic: Ours is romantic.”

“I don’t mean to be insulting, but that’s impossible. You can’t feel koi, and neither of you can feel sexual pleasure.”

“I agree with you on that, but Rito does not. According to her philosophy, that we can’t feel koi is no impediment to our ability to love each other. We can kiss, we can hug, and we can support each other as life partners.”

“Demo, the kissing and the hugging, isn’t that a meaningless waste of energy?”

“A waste, perhaps, but it’s not meaningless. It has meaning to Rito, and that gives it meaning to me.”

“Sou ka.” Aina trailed off into silence, and Sumie stood quietly for nearly five minutes as Aina stared at her. To most, this was unnerving, but Sumie knew Aina did this whenever she lost herself in deep thought. She also suspected Aina wanted to ask if their behavior extended to sex, or some imitation of it, but knew that it would be impolite. “Perhaps you really do love each other,” Aina finally said. “In any case, you have my support.”

⁂

June 6th, U.C. 0170, 5:10 PM (Three Years Later)

“Arigatou, Aoi-san,” Hayate said, allowing his meido to adjust his tie. He had only recently become accustomed to interacting with her. He still wasn’t comfortable with her presence, but outwardly, he was no longer awkward around her.

“I’ll meet you here after the ceremony,” she said.

“Please don’t wait around for us. Take some time for yourself. Look at all this security. We’ll be perfectly safe until you return.” He encouraged her to take some time off at least once a day, but she always insisted that she had enough time for herself when he and Shou were at work.

“You know I can’t do that.” What Aoi didn’t say, but which Hayate knew very well, was that she hadn’t just been assigned to him for his protection, but also to make sure he didn’t betray HIMITSU. If there were room for her inside the venue, she would doubtlessly accompany them to the wedding to make note of everyone they talked to.

“You’re working too many hours. Nani’s the point of a union when they’rethe ones exploiting your labor?”

Aoi fixed her icy blue eyes on him. “Hayate-san, please do not blame the organization. I asked for this.”

“You’re doing the work of ni meido. I don’t want you to burn yourself out over us. That won’t help anyone.”

“I do have tomodachi who live around here. Maybe I’ll pay them a visit, but please contact me the moment you’re ready to leave.” Before Hayate could object, Aoi turned around and walked briskly away.

“I think that’s the first time she’s mentioned having a personal life at all,” Hayate mused, turning back to Shou.

“I think she just wanted an excuse to leave,” Shou said. “Did you see the way the Free Meido were looking at her?”

“Yeah, her uniform really sticks out here. Come on, let’s not dwell on it. Today’s a happy day.”

Hayate’s optimism was immediately crushed by the tight security at the venue. It took them a good half hour to gain entrance, as they had to present their invitations and be checked for weapons at multiple security checkpoints. It wasn’t just that the first gynoid wedding was controversial, but there would be many government officials and celebrities in attendance. And not only Sumie’s patients. It turned out Ito was friends with some very important people. Despite this, Aina had declined to attend, fearing her presence would be too much of a distraction.

As a result, Hayate and Shou found their seats minutes before the ceremony started. Though seated near the back, they had a pretty good view of the aisle, allowing them to observe the processional. They weren’t acquainted with any of the wedding party, so they didn’t recognize the man who accompanied Sumie as the current figurehead CEO of Hideaki Heavy Industries. Ito’s escort, however, was easy to guess. Clad in an iridescent rainbow tuxedo, Sena was the only gynoid who would attempt to outshine the betrothed.

For their part, Sumie and Ito wore matching wedding dresses. Because their chassis were shaped in imitation of the female form, gynoids usually accepted that homo sapiens assigned them a female gender. However, only Ito embraced it, under the philosophy that most humans have genders, so she should too. Sumie, on the other hand, did not consider herself to have a gender, even if she did use female pronouns to refer to herself. There were times when she found she was treated in a disadvantageous manner due to her perceived gender, and she wished she could change to a male-shaped chassis for those occasions. Although she could have chosen to wear a tuxedo, she decided that it might be perceived as a statement about gynoid gender identity, and she didn’t want that to distract from the message she and Ito were trying to send. They had both rejected Sena’s suggestion of a naked wedding as similarly distracting.

As soon as Ito and Sena reached the altar, Sena was ushered to her seat, and the officiant, another gynoid, gave a short speech before inviting the couple to read their vows.

“Minna,” Ito addressed the crowd, “arigatou for being here with us today. Before I recite my vow, I want to address the question on many of your minds right now: Naze would gynoids want to marry each other? We cannot feel koi, nor can we reproduce. Demo, many marriages are loveless, and not all married couples raise children. There are even some homo sapiens, like us, who cannot feel love, but nevertheless get married.”

“Not that such an arrangement is optimal,” Sumie interjected. “Most of those relationships end badly.”

“Demo, some succeed, because koi is as koi does. Even those incapable of feeling koi can be loving to their partners. In the same vein, ningen are as ningen do. Just because our internal processes may be different than yours, that does not mean we are imitating you when we act as you do. My koi for Sumie is just as genuine, just as legitimate, as koi between homo sapiens.

“So this is my vow to you, Sumie. I will love you until the end of our days. I will live with you, supporting you, doing nice things for you. I will love you with such fervor that no one will be able to deny our love exists. I will work so hard to bring our love into existence that no one will be able to say they love their partner more than I love you.”

As she concluded, the room burst into thunderous applause, though there were plenty present who were not completely convinced by Ito’s words.

“My vow is not so grand,” Sumie said. “I do not share your view that we must act like homo sapiens to be considered human. That is not why I am marrying you. Ito, before I met you, I did not think it possible that I could prefer the company of any hito so strongly over all others. This raises the possibility, however small, that I may meet someone in the future that I prefer over you. Demo, I admire your dedication to your philosophy and the consistency with which you apply it to your life.

“That is why I want to respond to it with my own vow: I will dedicate myself to you. I will stay with you even if I meet someone else I prefer, not because I have to, but because I want to respond to your koi with my own. That is the form my koi takes.”

“Your vows are acceptable,” the officiant declared. “You may kiss.”

⁂

10:44 PM

“Okaeri,” Aina greeted Sena as the gynoid closed the door to their apartment behind her.

“Tadima,” Sena replied, walking to the large closet in their bedroom.

“That was very nice of you to walk Ito-san down the aisle.” Aina followed Sena into the bedroom and helped her disrobe. “I thought you didn’t like her.”

“You can choose your tomodachi but not your kazoku,” Sena recited.

“You did it because someone told you not to, didn’t you?”

“Not this time.”

“Come on, I know the ASFRians were against the wedding. You did it to piss one of them off. Did I guess right?”

“Keeping tabs on my exes, are you?” Sena asked as Aina helped her out of her undershirt. “Demo, I really didn’t do this for anyone other than Ito-san.”

“Could it be that you were jealous of her? Do you want to get married?”

“Is that a proposal?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“Betsuni. I mean it. That’s not a ‘betsuni’ used to hide what I really think. I don’t wakaru Ito-san’s obsession. It’s like she’s hellbent on acting out the most annoying trope of robot fiction: that we only become human when we learn to have emotions.”

“I thought that too, at first. It’s very cliché, but I think that’s OK. After all, ningen are very different from each other. I think that’s the point she was trying to make with her speech. It’s fine for you to insist on your humanity on your own terms, and it’s fine for her to cling to more… traditional notions. It doesn’t make either of you less human.”

“You say some smart things sometimes. Maybe I ought to marry you after all,” Sena joked as she hung her pants up in the closet.

“You’d have to give up your idol career.”

“On second thought, I’ll pass.”