Love Far Beyond the Ashes

Chat Over Drinks

Aki pov: I took Roboco-san back to my place, sat her down, got the spare hair she left with me, and attached it to her

"You need to put on clothes and stop pretending to be asleep," I told her.

"Sorry, it's just that I feel bad for hurting everyone." Roboco said

"It's not your fault!" San said

I looked at the girl floating around Roboco and smiled.

"She can see me?" San questioned

"Yeah and hear you" I said

"Ignore her, she's just like my guardian angel or something," Roboco said as she got a change of clothes.

"I'm well aware," I told her.

I got her some oil and placed it in front of her. "Thank you." She told me

"No problem. I'm sure you want to apologize, right?" I asked her

"Correct, I feel terrible," Roboco told me.

"We'll apologize together. Just relax a bit," I told her.

Roboco pulled out a device and placed it on the table. "We're putting this on Mikochi," she said.

"What is it?" I asked

"I just made a purifier," Roboco told me.

I had no idea what she meant by that, but it seemed painful.

"Are you sure you are fully fixed? Should A-chan look at you more?" I asked

"She fixed all my glitches," Roboco told me.

I was a bit skeptical, but I trust her fully. We both saw that A-chan made it so you can't just tamper with her anymore.

"I really don't want to see you lose it again." I commented

"I won't worry, I will make sure of it," Roboco said.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked the floating woman.

"I thought I'd just see myself out while you talked!" She told me

I looked at her and wondered what is San; she looks just like Roboco, and it can't be a database since it's like a physical person; she is like a ghost.

"You can stay," Roboco said to her.

Maybe she's a projection made by her. I reached out to see if my hand would go through, but I touched her, which shocked both of them.

"Not only can you see her, but you can also touch her." Roboco said with confusion

"Yeah, I was convinced only Roboco could see us." San said, "Wait us."

She seemed to be confused by her own existence as well, but I don't want to worry about it after all, Roboco has a ton of features that are still being uncovered, and this can just be one of those.

Although, again, Roboco doesn't seem to know what she is either, even though she could just do her own database check and learn everything she can do.

"Do you think you'll be able to face everyone?" I asked

"I have to, and I'm partially to blame; I did let Mikochi try to modify me." Roboco sighed

Luckily, we managed to keep her near the outskirts of the forest, and the damage was minimal thanks to everyone.

"I feel like I need to apologize for not stepping in; I'm not a fighter after all." I sighed

"Aki, you didn't do anything wrong. I didn't want to hurt you, and you used that to your advantage to keep me away from the forest," Roboco said.

"But if I just went all in and stopped you sooner, then I could have saved everyone!" I said

"There is nothing wrong with being scared I know you were afraid when you stepped down to stop me even though you were scared you even threatened to blow yourself up" Roboco said

"I guess you are right." I sighed

"So were you really going to destroy yourself?" San asked me

I looked at the floating woman and sighed, "Yes, I was ready." I told her

"Even if you weren't going to, I wasn't going to take chances." Roboco said

"I know I wasn't going to risk her life!" San said

"I?" I said

"I mean, you weren't going to risk her life." San corrected

Are they the same woman? I wondered; I think it's odd; I've never seen this girl before; today, Roboco seems like she's seen this girl her whole life, so what is going on with that?

"Aki, please don't risk yourself like that again though." Roboco told me

I smiled and laughed a bit. "I won't," I told her.

I was honestly worried about Luna-tan. She was so scared in the beginning, but in the end, because she came back and attacked her, we managed to restrain her since she didn't want to hurt Luna-tan either.

The two of us were the walls that stopped Roboco. I was questioning the reason why even in her previous state she kept our bonds, specifically because she must be closer to Azki, Sora, and Suisei, so why?

"I think I'm ready to apologize now," Roboco told me.

"You sure?" I asked

"I have to," San said.

"Yes, you do," I said.

I was going to go on imagining the two of them as the same person from now on because it seems like that's what is going on. The two of us left my place and met up with Azki-senpai, Sora-senpai, Suisei-senpai, A-chan, and Nodoka

"Are you going to apologize?" Nodoka asked

"Yeah," Roboco said.

"Good luck" Sora-senpai said

Roboco passed all of them and turned around and bowed, "I'm sorry for my troubles!" Roboco shouted

"Bwahahaha!" Suisei-senpai laughed

"What the hell are you talking about?" Azki laughed

"What!?" Roboco said in shock

"We all agreed that you didn't give us any trouble, so keep your chin up, Robochi!" Sora-senpai said

"Yeah, we promised we'd go back together, right?" Suisei-senpai said

Roboco looked at Suisei-senpai's arm and frowned, "But it hurt you..." She said

Suisei-senpai looked at Sora-senpai, Azki-senpai, and A-chan. The three of them went up and slapped Suisei-senpai across the face.

"See everyone hurt me as a squad!" Suisei-senpai yelled

Mikochi hasn't hurt you. Roboco-senpai said

"That woman hurt my heart... Suisei-senpai sighed

"Roboco, you have nothing to worry about. I'll be your crux. I'll support you even if they are mad at you. As long as you apologize, then maybe you can start over!" I said

Roboco held my hand tightly and smiled at me. "No more feeling sorry for myself," she said.

"Will we be able to go back to normal after this?" Roboco asked

"The six of us will never fall apart." Sora-senpai told everyone

"Then I'm ready," Roboco told me.

She began to walk forward, bringing me with her. I smiled, feeling this was the start of something bigger between us.