Murasakino

Tākoizu's first try

   "Hello there, Tākoizu!" Dr Takeda smiled.
   She immediately walked over to him and asked, "Are you Dr Takeda?"
   "I am!" he replied, placing his hand behind her back. "I will tell you everything you need to know about yourself and your sisters and let you join them later. Murasakino!"
   "Yes?"
   "Please tell the others to get ready. I've put some cereal on the table and Cathy will be here in a few minutes."
   "Yes, Dr Takeda." I gently tapped each of the girls' capsules with my knuckle and sat down to eat breakfast. There were five bowls set out, a box of cereal and a bottle of milk. I opened the box and found a bag full of cereal, which I assumed needed to go in the bowl. Pouring a few pieces in, I noticed there were no cups or glasses for the milk, so I just left it. The cereal was quite dry, but tasted similar to chocolate and was nice and sweet. As the others sat down I told them to ignore the milk, since there were no glasses, and they all poured out some cereal for themselves. I finished mine and stood up, when the door opened and Cathy came in with her coat on.
   "Ready, girls?" she asked.

   We took the same route to the supermarket, watching all the cars driving along the streets and a couple of birds in the sky. This time, I could get a good look at the large, empty looking area; It was a park with fields, trees and ponds, and there were some people running about. The sun was above it, and I realised that it would set behind it from the windows in the supermarket. I tried to imagine the sight; a yellow glow peering over the trees, the sky a deep pink fading to a dark blue and slowly disappearing from view. We went inside and again, our packed lunches were ready for us. Inside were sandwiches, apples, cartons of apple juice and small chocolate bars in wrappers. I was disappointed that we didn't get home-made desserts, but I knew these would be nice too. In fact, the first person who came to my counter was a woman who had bought two packs of eight of them.
   "You're not going to eat all of those, are you?" I asked.
   "Ah, no. They're for the kids," she replied.
   "How many kids do you have?"
   "Two; a boy and a girl. Twins, actually."
   "I have twin siblings too!" I said.
   "You do? More than one?"
   "Five."
   She stared at me in disbelief. "What? That's a lot of sisters! Or brothers, of course."
   "We all work here, look!" I pointed to the girls in front of us.
   She looked, then turned round and said, "Oh my gosh, yes! I bet that gets confusing!"
   "Not really."

   During our lunch break, Tākoizu walked in, showing off her badge with pride. The girls immediately started shouting out greetings to her.
   "Hey, Tākoizu!"
   "Oh, hi!"
   "I didn't realise you were ready yet!"
   "Neither!"
   "Come and get your lunch!" She sat down and opened her packed lunch, examining the sandwiches.
   "They're cheese and ham," I told her.
   "They sound, uh... tasty, I think." She didn't seem to know what cheese or ham were, but put the sandwiches down and started looking at her apple.
   "Did you have any cereal?" I asked.
   "Umm... Oh, yes I did. It was nice."
   "Were there any cups for the milk?"
   "No."
   "Did you come here in the car with Cathy?"
   "No."
   "How did you get here?"
   "Dr Takeda brought me." I could tell from her short answers that she was quite shy, and I was worried that she may be too shy to talk to strangers. However, I turned around and carried on eating.

   Tākoizu was okay with her first customer, and helped them with their shopping well. I noticed that a few more people were using the self-service checkouts, but we were still getting lots of customers. To my delight, the man who had bought the burgers for his barbeque party was here again, and was buying some interesting ingredients.
   "Avocado sounds nice," I said, weighing the fruit to find the cost.
   "It is," the man replied. "You've never tried it?"
   "Oh, no I haven't," I said. "What are you using it for?"
   "Guacamole. We're having tacos, and I wanted to make some guacamole to go with them."
   "Are there a lot of people eating?"
   "No, just me and the rest of the family." He packed his shopping into his bag, before asking, "Do you get to eat stuff from the shop for free?"
   "Why, no, but..." I began, but he just laughed.
   "I'm only pulling your leg," he said. "See you soon!"
   "Bye, sir!" I said, waving. I wondered what he meant by pulling my leg, but assumed it meant he was telling a joke. I was glad it wasn't me telling the joke, because I'd probably say, "I apologise for lying" or something without meaning to. Dr Takeda could turn it off, which seemed strange. Could you just control the emotions and thoughts of a real person that easily? It seemed unlikely, but I couldn't help thinking that there was a way.

   At closing time, I quickly ran to the toilet again before leaving and getting into Cathy's car. As we drove past the natural, uninhabited area, I realised that I'd forgotten to watch the sun set. It had vanished behind the hills, and a warm purple glow was all that remained of the sun itself. I also thought that, even though it would take a while, we could walk to and from the supermarket. Sure, it was a fair distance, but it would be more peaceful, and we'd have more of a chance of seeing animals. It was likely that there were deer living in the forests, and hundreds of other things, like birds and insects. But, for now, we could just watch from behind the car windows, so close to nature yet so far at the same time. Being a robot and having a routine like this had a lot of limits, and for a second I found myself wishing, even just for a day, that I was a real, human girl.