I Can Take My Panties Off!

Chapter 13: Useful

Chapter 13: Useful

         School was over and everyone was busy changing into their school uniform. Chihiro ran not to the lockers but to the canteen. He rested his head on the table and cried. "Why... why am I so useless and weak... My costume's not helping me..." Chihiro pondered.

        "Huh, is that...? Chihiro! What's wrong?" The voice from Chiaki as she rushed over to Chihiro's side.

         "Oh, Chiaki! N-no, nothing is wrong!" Chihiro tried to reassure Chiaki with a fake smile.

         "Your red, puffy eyes don't say so... Seriously, what's wrong?" Chiaki puffed out her cheeks in a attempt to look intimidating and footsteps can be heard.

          It was Mondo and Taka with concerned looks. "Chihiro! Don't just run off like that... Idiot!" Mondo scolded Chihiro in a concerned tone.

         "Yeah, Chihiro! You did great today so... Don't be disheartened!" Taka tried to encourage Chihiro as he laughed as the two boys sat with them.

          Chihiro heaved a deep sigh in sorrow. "What's wrong? That seemed like a pretty heavy sigh..." Chiaki asked in a concerned tone.

         "Oh, sorry... It's just, everyone else is working so hard to win but I'm no help at all." Chihiro looked at his cupped hand on his lap as he said that.

 

         "Th-That's not true at all!" Taka blurted out without hesitation.

          Chihiro shook his head in disapproval and said in a sad tons, "It's okay, you don't have to try and make me feel better. I know it's the truth. I'm completely useless without a computer in front of me... At least if I were a little stronger or something, then I'd be able to help somehow..."

         Mondo then grabbed Chihiro's shoulder and looked at him dead in the eye, "Listen, you'll get your chance. I'm sure there'll be a time when your skills will come in handy. So you don't have to worry so much, okay?"

        Chihiro's head perked up in a mixture of confusion and excitement, "My skills might...come in handy? If I get a chance, I'm gonna work super hard to chip in! When it comes to computers, you can count on me!" Chihiro then gave a bright smile.

        "You're right about that. No matter what anyone might say, you're still the Ultimate Programmer!" Taka cheered.

         Chiaki then had a curious expression and asked, "Speaking of which, how did you get into programming?"

         "Huh...?" Chihiro asked in confusion.

         "Well, I mean...I always assumed most programmers were guys, so..." Chiaki's statement made Chihiro go silent.

          "Oh no, they're getting to me! I knew I would get found out!" Chihiro panicked in his mind.

           Finally, Chihiro asked, "...Is it really that weird...?"

          "N-No, nothing like that! I was just curious what got you interested in it. I mean, why programming of all things?" Chiaki reassured Chihiro.

          "Why...? I mean, there isn't much of a reason. I've always been kind of weak, ya know. I was never able to run around with my friends or anything... We had a computer at home, so I'd kill time poking around with it. And I found out I really liked it! My dad was a software engineer, and he had a bunch of programs on there that he'd built. I found one of them and started playing around with it, adding stuff here and there... And that was how I ended up making my very first program." Chihiro explained in an enthusiastic voice.

        "Interesting... What kind of program was it?" Chiaki asked in a curious tone.

        "A kind of database software... A user could communicate with it, and it would take that information and find what they were looking for. It was a way of interacting with the computer without having to physically type things out, but I still do out of habit sometimes." Chihiro answered.

        "Was it through, like, touchscreen or something?" Mondo asked. 

        "Well, that did exist back then, but I did something different. I wanted to find a way to interact with a computer without having to use your hands."

        "Without using your hands? Then..." Mondo tried thinking harder to look for the answer.

         "Did you use telekinesis? As soon as you think something, the computer reacts, that kind of thing?" Taka asked in an assured tone.

          Chihiro giggled and said, "Hehe. That sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie. You're so funny, Taka! But I think it'll be a while before we figure out how to do something like that... No, I used something different. It wasn't with psychic power, but it *was* a way to convey information without touching the computer."

         "Convey information to the computer...? In other words..." Taka tried to think with a red face.

        "You used voice recognition, is that it?" Chiaki asked.

        Chihiro smiled brightly, "Yup, exactly! You could talk to it, and it could actually talk back. It was a lot of fun! It didn't even really sound like me! I would get totally absorbed in talking to it..."

        "It's like a kid recording themselves and playing it back again..." Taka commented.

        "The key part of the program was getting it to recognize what I was saying. The recognition accuracy was the most important thing. Japanese is kinda hard, so it was pretty challenging." Chihiro explained.

        "But you were able to do it eventually?" Taka asked.

         "Yup! And right around then...my Dad was watching me mess around with the program and also when I finished it. He said was how impressed he was since I did it in such a short time! The software was able to take natural speech and pull out key search terms to retrieve information. My dad said it worked so well, it was gonna change the face of software interaction all over the world! The development costs are still pretty expensive, so it hasn't spread that much yet, but... Anyway, I've been addicted to programming ever since... I can't tell you how happy it made me to be able to make others happy...!" Chihiro explained as there was burning passion in his eyes.

         "It's obvious how much you love computers. You seem to just...light up when you start talking about them." Chiaki smiled as Chihiro blushed.

          "Ah! Sorry, I spent all this time just talking about myself..." Chihiro apologised as tears were forming in his eyes again.

          "No, we had a lot of fun learning more about you!" Chiaki commented.

          "Huh? Really...?" Chihiro asked in astonishment.

          "Yup! I hope you'll tell me even more next time." Taka suggested.

          Chihiro's eyes then lit up with excitement, "O-Okay! Let's hang out again sometime! It's a promise, okay?" Chiaki and the other nodded as they looked at the clock.

          "Guys we better go, it's getting late." Taka reminded.

          "Yeah, we should go. Chihiro, you wanna go home together?" Chiaki asked as Chihiro nodded and they all said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.