My master began his meal.
I watched my master’s reaction nervously.
The moment a spoonful of scrambled eggs entered his mouth, his movements paused momentarily.
“The taste is a bit different than usual, isn’t it?”
My master mumbled, looking down at the food as if something was off. Before his gaze could turn to Sophia, I hastily spoke.
“Master, I made that.” “You did?”
“…Was it that bad?”
I asked glumly.
“Is it… bad?”
“…No. It’s not bad.”
It was an ambiguous response.
It wasn’t clear whether he liked it or not.
I, too, picked up a spoon and tasted the food I had made.
After one bite, it definitely felt a bit drier than the soft scrambled eggs Sophia used to make.
Was it a failure?
I felt deflated but pulled myself together.
It was too soon to give up.
The more I tried, the better I would get.
If I helped Sophia well and the frequency of her breakdowns decreased, my master might one day acknowledge my usefulness.
I quietly ate my food, imagining such a future.
Even if I was clumsy now, I believed the day would come when my master would acknowledge me.
It was morning.
As usual, I woke up in my master’s arms early in the morning.
Turning towards the warm sensation, I saw my master holding me.
“Did I have a nightmare again…?”
“Yes.”
It seemed I had tossed and turned due to a nightmare in my sleep again.
No matter how many times I told my master it was okay and he could ignore it, he would reply that he couldn’t sleep because of the noise, ignoring my words.
It had been like this lately.
When I tossed and turned with nightmares all night, my master would hold me.
It had been several days since the kidnapping incident, and this repetition every morning was causing me concern.
Was my master unable to sleep comfortably because of me?
It felt like I was only being a nuisance instead of being helpful.
I thought it might be better to sleep separately and worried about it all day until that night, I cautiously brought it up.
“Master, I’ll sleep in my own room starting tonight.”
At my words, my master narrowed his brow and looked at me.
“You want to sleep separately? Why?”
“Because I feel like I’m bothering you….”
I hadn’t expected my master to ask why.
I stammered my reply, and my master’s face changed to one of displeasure.
I had thought my master would welcome my request, thinking he could finally sleep comfortably, but a somewhat different reaction than expected came back, which flustered me.
“Do as you please.”
“Yes….”
Still, we were finally going to sleep separately.
Today, I lay alone in bed in my room. It felt a little scary and lonely to sleep alone after a long time.
I probably would have nightmares again, but I closed my eyes, thinking it would still be better to sleep alone.
How much time had passed like that?
“Ah…!”
I broke out in a cold sweat and shot up.
I had a nightmare.
It was a dream where my former master abandoned me.
My current master was also in the dream, but he was merely looking at me with a chillingly indifferent expression as I was put up for auction.
I pleaded with my master, but in the end, I was sold to the man who had kidnapped me.
I groaned and thrashed, then took a deep breath and woke up.
With a face drenched in tears, I looked around.
Fortunately, it was my master’s familiar home, not an auction house.
I belatedly noticed the clock on the wall; my master’s work time had long passed.
“Gasp….”
Could it be that my master had gone to work without me?
I hastily got out of bed and left the room.
But my master was nowhere to be seen, neither in the room nor the living room.
I sat on the sofa glumly.
It seemed my master had left alone without waking me up, seeing that I had overslept.
Although oversleeping was my fault, a wave of disappointment washed over me towards my master for leaving without waking me.
“Didi, are you awake?”
Just then, a door opened somewhere, and my master’s voice was heard.
I had truly thought he had left without me, but when I turned my head, I saw my master coming out of the study.
“Master…! I thought you had gone to work already!”
“I was going to, but….”
My master stopped speaking as he looked at my face.
I belatedly realized that my face was a mess because of the nightmare.
To prevent my master from seeing my tear-stained face, I quickly wiped my eyes with my sleeve.
“Didi, go to the company today and get checked by Thomas again.”
“Yes….”
I nodded obediently.
I felt the same way as my master.
Having nightmares so often was unusual.
Perhaps something was really broken.
It would be great if there was a way to fix it….
Worrying about my condition, I headed to the company with my master late in the afternoon.
As soon as we arrived at the company, my master took me straight to Thomas’s lab.
It was the first time I had come here again since the kidnapping incident, as my master hadn’t allowed me to roam freely.
Is that human-bot doing well?
I momentarily set aside my worries about my body and took steps filled with anticipation at the thought of meeting another human-bot like myself after a long time.
When the lab door opened, Thomas greeted me warmly.
“William! You’re just in time. The analysis results for the robot dog I sent you came in.”
As soon as Thomas spoke, the old master’s robot dog, which I had found in the museum, came to mind.
I had completely forgotten about it, caught up in anxious thoughts and plagued by nightmares.
It seemed my master had eventually taken the robot from the museum for research and given it to Thomas for analysis.
“The results?”
“There was nothing special. It was just a normal robot dog.”
As expected…
It was just as I had anticipated.
There were no hidden functions or secret information.
There was no twist with a secret hidden in the robot my old master made.
My master’s expression hardened.
Thomas, on the other hand, continued speaking with excitement.
“Wow, as expected from something the former chairman made, the joints are incredibly flexible! The movements are so natural, it’s hard to believe it’s an old robot. If we tweak it a bit more and release it as a pet robot, it could be quite good.”
“This company doesn’t need such useless robots.”
My master’s cold voice echoed in the lab.
“Doesn’t need useless robots…”
I, who had been eavesdropping, felt my heart sink.
It felt as if he was talking about me.
“Thomas, Didi needs to be re-examined. His condition is strange.”
“Oh, really? There weren’t any problems last time…”
“Contact me when the examination is done.”
“Understood.”
My master left the lab without waiting for me, just as he usually did.
A moment of silence fell after my master closed the door and left.
Thomas examined my condition and asked, “Didi, what’s wrong?”
“I keep having nightmares. My head feels complicated… and I can’t sleep well either…”
“Hmm… Is there something wrong with the brain unit? I’ll have to examine it closely.”
Thomas mumbled with a serious expression.
I quietly nodded. I could endure any scary examination.
As long as I could stop being a hindrance to my master…
Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen the human-bot.
I looked around for a moment and then asked, “By the way, what about the human-bot who came with me last time?”
“Ah, he’s in the repair room. Nick!”
As Thomas called out, the repair room door opened, and the human-bot appeared.
His complexion looked much brighter, as his injuries had healed considerably since I last saw him.
I couldn’t hide my joy at seeing him again, as we hadn’t properly greeted each other before parting, and I smiled.
“Mr. Thomas, did you call me?”
“Nick, say hello. This is Didi.”
“Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The human-bot greeted me politely.
But something was off.
The human-bot greeted me as if I were a complete stranger.
At that moment, I realized.
He had erased his memories.
“Ah…”
A complex mix of emotions intertwined and escaped as a small sigh.
Thomas looked at me, unable to speak, and quietly whispered, “Nick asked me to erase his memories. And he wanted me to tell you thank you.”
Thomas conveyed the human-bot’s message to me.
The human-bot I hadn’t properly greeted now stood before me with a new name, Nick.
Nick was smiling happily.
My heart felt heavy, but I respected his choice.
After all, there are memories in this world that you want to forget, and memories that make you happy if you forget them.
He seemed to have gotten a new name, Nick, and decided to live with Thomas.
As expected, I could feel that Thomas cared for him deeply.
Nick looked happy with his new master.
That sight… made me a little envious.
***
I entered the repair room and began my examination.
Today, various tests were conducted with machines connected to my head.
Thomas said that it didn’t seem like my brain unit was broken, but he would need to look into it further, investigating various things before concluding the examination by saying he would analyze the results and inform me accurately in a few days.
The examination took longer than expected, making my body stiff. I slowly got up and massaged my rigid body.
As I came out of the repair room, I saw Nick organizing the inside of the lab. It seemed Nick was helping Thomas here, assisting with lab work like other auxiliary robots.
Watching that scene, an idea suddenly occurred to me.
If so, could I work here too…?
“Um… Mr. Thomas.”
“Yes? Is there something else bothering you?”
“No, it’s not that… Could I perhaps work here too?”
I hesitated, approaching Thomas and cautiously asking.
Although there was nothing I could properly do, I was confident I could learn diligently.
Upon hearing my words, Thomas’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t hide the corners of his mouth from curling up, breaking into a wide smile.
“What a stroke of luck… Ahem, ahem… Didi, you’re always welcome!”
Thomas pulled me into a hug.
Unlike my master, his reaction was enthusiastically welcoming.
His twitching lips made me smile naturally. But Thomas then continued speaking, as if something was bothering him.
“But… before that, I think we need to get William’s permission first…”
My expression also darkened slightly, mirroring Thomas’s quiet mumbling.
Would my master really allow it?
My master seemed displeased even when I helped Sophia, so I doubted he would be pleased with my offer to help Thomas.