bloodline | dazai o.

eleven ticks.

"While you were gone, I got to work."

River introduced Taiyo to the beautiful hidden area of the library. It's proved to be way bigger than it seems to be on the outside. While the front had a castle design, the back had comfort and warmth written everywhere. Instead of expensive decor, ramen cups and soda bottles were on the tables. "Do you... Live here?"

"Yup! My humble abode." He presented with arms spread wide, then proceeding to head to this other room covered by a curtain. "This-"

"Is where I work."

Taiyo's eyes scanned over each machinery in shock. The dim light of the several computer screens illuminating the room, the heavy amount of gears and other devices that were scattered were brought to light.

Not only were there gears and chips on the desk, there were robot designs and blueprints everywhere in the room. "I forgot you studied engineering in college." She pointed out while poking this strange looking bot on the side, "Yeah then I end up becoming a librarian."

"Here." He gave a device, "Press that." With a confused look, she obliged and was shocked by what followed.

Beep Beep Beep!

"That's Phrog! The first robot I've ever made." The ball of steel rolled while its frog shaped head nodded back and forth. "You know Star Wars? I inspired him off that cute robot there." Taiyo hummed, crouching down to it's level.

"Hey bud." She patted it's head, "What does it do?" River grabbed the remote from her, pressing a button. "He was supposed to just help me clean around here, but I accidentally programmed him into knowing how to attack. So he's basically my bodyguard."

The detective hummed in content and shock over her partner's intelligence. "Oh! What's this?"

"That's 404 and 606. Birds of a feather." They left Phrog to work on something else while they focused on the two identical human looking robots. "They're basically a sword and a shield. 606 was supposed to be this big shot robot, but then 404 popped off of it. I had no choice but to just make them two sides of the same coin."

"Your creativity never fails to amaze me." She trailed off, surprising River which made him smile after. "I learned from the best-!"

"How about this one?" River deadpanned, "That's an alcohol dispenser." She deadpanned as well, "Oh." But then proceeded to pour some on her hands and rubbed.

"Kinda weird you haven't made a human looking robot. That's the trend nowadays." River waved his hand while Phrog span around him, "Designing a human face is hard. I don't have the time. Plus, I tried once and the result is that one in the corner."

Taiyo looked at her back to see a burnt robot on the side. Small sparks were evident and the face seemed to be smashed. River was one to have a short temper when it came to things like this. "Understandable."

Minutes were spent of Taiyo and River roaming around his work space, examining and explaining the robots and machinery the English man did in his spare time.

Then, someone entered the room which caught the detective's attention. "You said you weren't good at making human faces, River! This robot looks good!"

River sweatpanned while the 'robot' had a calm face and a firm grip on the tray she was holding. "Uh... Taiyo..."

"That's my co-worker, Avon."

Taiyo froze in her spot, looking frantically at the human who she mistook for a machine. "Shit, I'm sorry, miss." River chuckled at the scene, proceeding to step up and introduce the two. "Taiyo, this is one of my real colleagues, Avon. Avon, this is the detective I told you about."