(ON HOLD) A Robot With Issues | Ishimondo Android AU

Chapter 1

btw, read A/N for AU explanation if you're confused.

Kiyotaka was having a breakdown about.. something. He was studying as usual but then his mind drifted to other things and he felt like crying again.

Suddenly, the sound of his phone ringing interrupted him. He quickly picked it up and answered whoever was calling.

"Hello?"

"Sorry for bothering you, Taka. Do you want to come over? I want to show you something. If you're not busy, of course!" Chihiro said through the phone.

"Sure! I'm not too busy right now," Kiyotaka replied. 

He was actually planning to study all day but he rarely got to "hang out" with his friends. One of the reasons was that he didn't have a lot of friends, or barely any to be exact. Maybe the closest friend he had was Chihiro but he was usually busy working on his projects or hanging out with his other friends.

Kiyotaka went to the bathroom to wash the tears along with the teartracks on his face. He wiped his face with a nearby towel and walked outside his house, not forgetting to lock it.

Kiyotaka breathed in the outside air. It had been a while since Kiyotaka went outside for anything not related to school or his necessities.

After walking for a few minutes, Kiyotaka stopped in front of Chihiro's doorstep and knocked. It didn't take a while for Chihiro to open the door. He had a joyful look on his face. He then let Kiyotaka inside and led him towards his room.

Once they arrived in Chihiro's room, Chihiro explained, "I've been working on this for a while now. It's my biggest project yet and I'm excited to show it to you!" he began searching his bag and pulled out a laptop.

Chihiro motioned Kiyotaka to sit on the side of the bed with him and he obliged. Chihiro opened his laptop and turned it on. Once the screen lit up, it showed a disembodied head that looked really similar to Chihiro with a green coloured background. Actually, it was exactly the same as Chihiro except he actually had a body instead of just a floating head.

"Hello! I am Chihiro Fujisaki. But you can call me Alter Ego!" the disembodied head- Alter Ego, chirped.

"Wow… what is this exactly? Is this like… those "robots" I've seen on the news?" Kiyotaka asked while staring into the screen.

"Not really! This is an AI. It doesn't have a robot body unlike androids- or robots. Building things like that is a bit too advanced for me," Chihiro laughed.

"Nonesense, Chihiro! If you try hard enough, anything is possible!" Kiyotaka declared.

Chihiro giggled, "I know, Taka. But I think I'll just focus on coding and let someone else do the building."

Kiyotaka stared at the laptop screen, "So.. what can Alter Ego do?" he asked.

"He can…" Chihiro tapped his chin, "Well, I'm not really sure. He's currently more of an assistant or a friend when you're lonely. You can also ask questions to him and he'll answer. Just don't forget to say his name before asking," he explained.

"Oh, okay. Um…" Kiyotaka quickly thought of a random question, "Alter Ego, Where can you find penguins?"

"Penguins are found only in the Southern Hemisphere, mostly near Earth's South Pole, in Antarctica," Alter Ego quickly answered.

"Wow," Kiyotaka's eyes sparkled in amazement. Alter Ego sounded a lot like Chihiro too.

Kiyotaka then continued asking the AI questions for at least half an hour until Chihiro had to charge the laptop.

They then continued talking to each other about life and other things. Chihiro apparently had became very wealthy because of his other projects. He had also been more popular and more well known as a talented programmer.

Meanwhile, Kiyotaka's life was mediocre. He was still living the same life ever since elementary.

The people in his neighborhood were really successful. Well the people he knew, at least.

For instance, his neighbors were Leon and Yasuhiro. Leon was a pretty successful musician while Yasuhiro worked for the government in… predicting things.

If he wanted to be more successful like Chihiro and the others, Kiyotaka really should work harder.

Kiyotaka abruptly stood up, "Ah, I think I've overstayed my welcome. Thank you for talking with me, Chihiro! I'll be on my way now," he bowed at him.

Chihiro giggled, "Okay! See you later, Taka!"

Kiyotaka let himself out and walked back a short distance to his home.

-

Kiyotaka walked inside his house and locked the door.

He was about to continue studying but he then saw his laptop on the table. He couldn't help but grab it and turned it on after sitting down at his table.

He couldn't stop thinking about AIs and such. If Chihiro could make an advanced AI already then robots- or androids, as Chihiro called them, must've existed already.

He began searching for articles about the topic on androids. He found out that they, in fact, already existed. But there was few of them. 

Apparently, people thought that androids would replace humans one day, which was true, kind of. They could replace humans when it came to workers and such but Kiyotaka didn't think that they could replace humans when it came to creativity, ideas, or emotional needs.

Kiyotaka eventually stumbled upon an auction website called "Ebay". His eyes turned wide as he read the text on the screen.

Someone was selling an android for 100 yen only?!

It could be a scam…

But it was only for 100 yen! If it was a scam, Kiyotaka wouldn't lose much and he could just report the scam.

Before he could overthink himself, he bid 100 yen and hoped that no one outbids him.

Kiyotaka should stop getting distracted and start studying. He quickly turned off the laptop and closed it. He moved the laptop aside and continued studying from where he had left off.

A/N
another new book yey :DDD
this is gonna be a hard one to write lol.
here's an explanation btw:

In this AU, Kiyotaka and the other 78th class are about 20 or 21 (except for Yasuhiro, of course lol)

They all didn't go to school together. Instead, they knew about each other because they live in the same neighborhood.

Kiyotaka had been living in the same place for a very long time because he is living in his parents' house (which is already dead btw) and he couldn't afford to buy another home.

Kiyotaka knew about Chihiro because he stumbled upon him trying to carry his things into his newly bought house. He helped him out and they eventually became good friends.

Oh yeah, and also Kiyotaka is trying to finish college while also working a part time job.

Tbh, I haven't thought of this story through?? Well, I did think about the main plot points but still- I'll just hope for the best lol.