Murasakino

Sleeping

   We sat down at the little table, a plate, knife, fork and napkin at each seat. The pie was chicken and mushroom, as Cathy had guessed, and she smiled as she realised she was right. The table did look weird with us sat down; Dr Takeda at the end, Cathy opposite, three identical girls at the side and two opposite them. I was at the corner next to Dr Takeda, who was cutting the pie into slices and serving them to everyone. The plates already had carrots, peas and mashed potatoes on them, so we could get to experience a wider variety of flavours.
   "I will cook something different every night," he told us, "so you can try as many things as possible. I have already planned for the rest of the week's dinners."
   "I am cooking on Thursday," Cathy added, grabbing the pepper grinder. "Meatballs."
   "They sound tasty," Aka said. "Our lunches were good, too."
   "Yeah! And the brownies!" Honōiro said. "In fact, who baked those?"
   "That was me," said Dr Takeda, standing up to reach for the gravy. "I added a tiny bit of cherry to make them extra nice." We started to eat the pie, which had chicken, mushrooms and a thick sauce inside it. Of course, the pie was very hot, and since none of us were expecting it, some of us burned our tongues and were told to blow gently to cool it down. Dr Takeda showed us how to use a knife and fork, and I wondered something.

   "If we have so much data in ourselves, how come we didn't know how to walk or use these? I asked.
The girls all realised this at the same time, and a few went "Oh, yeah!"
   "I wanted you to be able to learn," Dr Takeda explained. "If you just knew everthing already, it would be no fun at all, so I left out certain things like walking, swimming, writing and so on."
   "I'd love to learn how to write," Midori said with her mouth full of potato.
   "I could show you if you want," Cathy told her, brushing her fringe out of her face.
   "You could?" Midori asked. "Please do! It would be really fun!"
   "I will, don't worry!" We continued eating, and when all of our pie and vegetables were gone, Dr Takeda collected all of our plates and carried them into the other room. The girls started to get up, but Cathy told them not to. "Girls! What about dessert?"
   "Dessert?" Ao asked. "Like brownies?"
   "Yes, although I think we're having..."
   "Crumble, anyone?" Dr Takeda asked, carrying a big apple crumble with oven gloves on.
   "That's it," said Cathy. "Crumble. I'll have some!"

   The crumble was interesting, as we had already had two apple-related things to eat that day and it was nothing like them. The apple, unlike the fresh apples we had eaten, was soft and hot, and the blanket of crumble above it was just as tasty, with cinnamon to compliment the apple. Once we were all done, Dr Takeda again collected everyone's bowls and took them to the other room. I was really tired from being at the supermarket all day, and did a big yawn. It made the others yawn too, which made us giggle. Dr Takeda walked back into the room and told us what we needed to do next.
   "Like before you woke up, you will need to get into those to sleep." He pointed to the capsules we had woken up inside in the morning. "You will sleep for the whole night, but once a week you will be recharged with power so you can work for another week." We walked over to our capsules to get in, and on our way I noticed Tākoizu was already inside hers; she had a turquoise shirt on and was stood silently, her eyes closed. The expression on her face was one of relaxation, and she looked as if she was awake but meditating. We got into them, and saw Cathy with a jacket on walking to the door out. As she opened it, she turned and gave us a little wave, then left.

   I stood in the position I had woken up in, then started to rock back and forth on my heels. I accidentally tipped too far backwards, but luckily there was a pillow at the back for my head; Dr Takeda must have added it to make it more comfortable to sleep in. I accidentally tapped the red circle again, and the door slid open, but luckily I only needed to tap it again to make it close. The lights in the corridor went out, and apart from the slight noise of one of the girls moving about it was silent. I closed my eyes, and I should be able to say that I went to sleep but I can't describe it; I was stood silently for a few minutes, then it felt like I had been sleeping for hours, but when I woke up I felt as if I had only just got into the capsule and hadn't got any sleep. Exactly like the previous day, I was the first to wake up. I pressed the circle with the pad of my thumb to open the door, and noticed that Tākoizu was awake too. She began tapping the glass and talking, but all I could do to understand her was read her lips.
   "How do I get out?" is what I interpreted it as, and I mimed pressing the button behind her. She managed to get it open, and immediately wobbled over to me.
   "Do you know where I am?" she asked, and I noticed that she was about an inch shorter than me.
   "Yes," I replied. "You are in Dr Takeda's laboratory, and... well, I assume he will tell you in full later."
   "Do you have a name? Do I have one?"
   "I am called Murasakino, and you are Tākoizu."
   "Tākoizu..." she repeated, whispering it to herself. Then, Dr Takeda's door opened and he emerged, smiling at Tākoizu.