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This is…a new feeling to me.
I was attending Hope’s Peak Academy, where I had recently been accepted as the Ultimate Robot. It was honestly a little frightening at first, but I think I fit in quite well around here! There’s a lot to learn about the people around me, and even though one student mocks me without end, the rest are pretty great. But that one student, Kokichi Oma, if I could sue him for robot discrimination I would! Although along the lines of what happened recently, it’s not entirely his fault…
It actually started when I received my optional school uniform in the mail. I never went to any other school, although my transcript says otherwise. The professor himself had homeschooled me for as long as I can remember, but he thought of a fitting high school name to place on the entry form so I could fit in. I had never received a set of clothing other than my armor from the professor, I was so ecstatic that I rushed upstairs to my room to try it on.
“How does it look?” I yelled down from the railing, extending my arm over the edge to show off. Father looked up from his laptop on the couch and smiled.
“Come down here and let’s see it, Keebo!” he called, glancing back at his laptop as I rushed down the stairs. After closing it and setting it on the coffee table, he hoisted himself up to come get a closer look. I stood there with my arms out, beaming.
The more I think about it, the more the uniform as actually pretty plain for an establishment like Hope’s Peak. I was wearing a plain white button-down shirt with a green and red sweater vest on top, all under a brown sport coat. In my left hand I held a vibrant red tie, as I had no idea how to tie it around my neck. The professor took note of this and took the tie from my hand.
“Ah yeah,” he mumbled, turning it around in his hands, “I haven’t had to wear one of these in years. Lemme see if I can just…”
His voice trailed off as he tried to tie the tie around his own unbuttoned shirt collar. After a few tries and a small sigh of relief, he got it to look the way I’d seen it in magazines and then loosened it and placed it around my own neck, tightening it snug to my collar and tucking the rest of it into my vest. He looked over me once more and nodded, holding a hand close to his chin.
“It actually looks nice,” he mused, shifting his weight to his good leg, “it’s kind of a shame you can’t wear it to school.”
“What?!” I screamed, confusion flooding my processors, “What’s the point in having a school uniform if I can’t wear it to school?! Father, please explain!” My shoulders tensed up as I saw him wince from the sudden yelling, and I felt a small pang of guilt ring through me.
“Keebo,” he sighed, walking back over to the couch and motioning me to sit down, “you know that I wouldn’t tell you no without a good reason or two, right?” I sat down, looking at my uncovered hands in my lap. I knew the reason he was going to tell me no already. He waited to see if I would answer, and when I didn’t, he continued.
“The main reason I don’t want you to go to school like that is because I’m worried about you getting injured. Your armor is designed to provide you with the shock absorbtion you need for daily life, and I don’t think the uniform would fit over it or look presentable,” Father said calmly, picking up his mug from the coffee table.
I knew he was right, but I still wanted to protest my attachment to this new outfit. I liked the way it felt on my exterior, but more so the way it made me feel like I was definitively part of the school. It was a small dream of mine to own a set of clothes like this someday.
“I know,” I mumbled, finally looking up at him. He relaxed back into the couch, sipping his coffee. This was the end of the conversation, and I knew my school uniform was supposed to only be worn in the house.
But I really wanted to wear it, at least once.
The next day I snuck the uniform into my backpack early in the morning before the Father was awake. It was really difficult to act like I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but I knew he was very drowsy in the mornings and barely got himself up to say goodbye.
“Have a good day at school, Keebo,” he yawned, giving me a halfhearted wave as he hunched over the island by the door. I turned around to give him a wave back, being stiffer than usual from my nerves.
“Bye, Father!” I yelled in response before slamming the door behind me and quickly walking down the street as fast as I could. It was on a downhill slope, so if I went too fast I’d get hurt before I even had the chance to enact my plan.
I slipped into a nearby grocery store and walked into their bathroom in the back. Once securely in a stall, I began to take off my armor and fold it into so that it would fit into my backpack. It was a tight fit, but I got it all to fit in there somehow. After reconsidering my actions for a minute, I strengthened my resolve and put on my uniform, shirt, vest, pants, and jacket. The last thing was the tie that my father had pre-tied last night. Seeing it shot a pang of guilt through me, but I had already decided that I was definitely going to wear it today, so I said a silent apology to the professor and slipped it around my neck.
When I exited the stall and looked in the mirror, a smile spread across my face. I looked like a real, normal high school student! Proud of myself, I strode out of the store and continued on down the road to Hope’s Peak Academy. Hearing the voices of all the people around me, I eavesdropped on a particular conversation in front of me, one about cooking dinner the night before. I thought I could learn something from this conversation, but I didn’t want to intervene, so I stayed a few feet behind and listened carefully. I’d have to research “joo-lee-en” sometime today. I was so caught up in listening that I didn’t notice the looming figure approaching closer and closer behind me.
“MORNING, KEEBOY!” a voice yelled into the side of my head. I jumped and screamed, stumbling backwards and almost falling onto the verbal assailant. Once I caught myself and straightened out my balance, I turned around to see it was none other that Kokichi Oma, my, quite harmless but very annoying, high school bully. I glared at him.
“Do not yell at me, Kokichi! That is very rude and you know it!” I proclaimed, turning around and continuing my walk. The two students I was listening to had already gotten far ahead so I couldn’t listen any more. I sighed and sped up in hopes that he would leave me alone. He didn’t.
“Soooooo,” he continued, arms behind his head as he kept up with my pace, “what’s with the weird clothes? You finally gonna tell me if robots have dicks today?” He poked at my arm and I frowned, grabbing the spot.
“It’s our school uniform, you should know since you were supposed to receive one in the mail yesterday,” I responded, keeping my eyes forward. I could see the school coming into view and hoped as we got closer he would find someone else to annoy and he’d leave me alone.
“I mean I diiiiiiid, but its on optional uniform, meaning we don’t have to wear it,” he chided, “but I guess that would be difficult-”
“ Don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it- ” I thought furiously.
“- for a robot to know, so I’ll let it slide this time, ‘kay?” His grin made everything worse. I felt the anger bubble up under my exterior.
“Kh! That’s robophobic and you know it Kokichi!” His comments always made me angry no matter how much I knew them to be false.
“Come on, I’m just trying to help you be normal so you don’t stick out more than you already do,” he added, “It’s gotta be difficult not knowing what to do when literally everyone else knows that you don’t wear optional uniforms.”
“I don’t need your help!” I exclaimed, walking even faster away from him. He didn’t bother sticking to my new space.
I sighed and slowed down a little after a minute, my legs starting to hurt a little from the fast uphill climb. If it was just Kokichi’s teasing, I could put up with it, but I started to have second thoughts about the safety of these new clothes. I shook my head in an attempt to clear any guilt from disobeying my father.
Soon I approached the school, where several other students were also walking to. I looked around, but no one I could see was wearing the optional school uniform. Maybe they hadn’t gotten theirs? Or maybe anime lied?
“There you are, you ultimate vending machine! You left me in the dust!” Kokichi yelled as he caught up to me. I rolled my eyes.
“You’re not going to leave me this morning, are you?” I replied, holding the door open for him, as much as I didn’t want to.
“Nope! Can’t find anyone else right now and I know you’re not doing anything,” he explained. I sighed.
“I was trying to get information on cooking, but you interrupted me.”
“So you were eavesdropping?” he asked, looking much more interested now as we started to climb the flight of stairs, “Don’t you know that that’s rude?” I tensed up, realizing that what I’d done could be could be taken that way. Before I could say anything back, he continued.
“Well you’ll get it eventually. You’re lucky I’m here to help you!”
“You’re no help at all-AAAAAAH!”
Before I could finish what I was saying, I felt a strong tap on my upper back that, along with climbing the stairs, caused me to pitch forward uncontrollably.
And it happened.
When I got my bearings on the stairway, I felt an unfamiliar pain shoot through my arm. Sitting on one of the stairs, I gave my right arm a light shake and then hissed in pain. Rattling.
“Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no,” I murmured, feeling panic rise through my whole system. I refused to listen to my father’s lessons and I was being punished. What would he even say when I went home? How could I tell him I didn’t do what he said was right? Where would I even begin? Why did I-
“Hey!” A voice yelled in the side of my head. That was the second time today, but the voice was different than last time. I took my face out of my hands to see my classmate, Miu Iruma. She was leaning on a couple stairs below me, her eyebrows furrowed.
“The fuck is up with you?” she continued, slightly less loud than before. I shrunk back a bit as she leaned forward, staring intensely at me.
“I, uh, hurmyarm,” I mumbled into my collar. It just occurred to me that my clothes didn’t have my face-shield that my usual armor had. My face grew pink from the shame.
“You what? I don’t have all fuckin’ day,” she retorted and leaned closer. I could hear the people walking by us, probably confused.
“I… hurt my arm, on my way up the stairs,” I admitted softly, staring at my thighs, covered in brown fabric. My mind reeled at what would happen to me, how she’d make fun of me and how I’d have to spend the rest of the day pretending like I wasn’t in pain.
“Well fuck me man, get your ass in my lab so I can get a closer look!,” Miu yelled, grabbing me by the tie and pulling my face closer to hers. My face heated up even more than it already was.
“I-I’m sorry?”
“I said come with me to my lab, idiot!” she blared, letting go of my tie. I sat there in shock for a minute, holding my arm.
“Are... are you saying you want to try to fix my arm?” I asked, unsure if that’s what she really meant. I mean, that’s a lot to offer to a classmate who’s no more than an acquaintance. She snorted and turned around full circle, her pink skirt twirling with her.
“I’m not gonna try, genius, I’m gonna actually fuckin do it!” she yelled again, jabbing a finger at my chest. She grabbed my other arm and yanked me to my feet and started walking down the stairs. I was too in shock to really say anything and just followed her in silence. The doors to her lab opened and she let go of me, making a beeline to her tool bench.
“Um, Miu?” I asked hesitantly, “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I was starting to have second thoughts of someone I knew very little working on the inner mechanics of my arm.
“What, are you worried about being late or some stupid shit?” she fired back, still digging through her tools and setting some aside some specific ones.
“I mean… maybe?” I shrank back, wishing more and more that I’d listened to Father’s words.
“Don’t fuckin’ be,” she retorted, turning around with a handful of tools. Her face started to look a bit flushed. “It’s gonna be fine, believe me. Now take off your shirt!”
“H-Huh?!”
“You heard me, I said take it off!” Miu repeated, stepping closer to me. I took a step backwards toward the work bench.
“M-M-Miu, I can’t!” I stammered, my face burning. It was too embarrassing!
“How the hell am I gonna work on your arm with two layers on it, fuckwad?” she said, approaching closer. I didn’t move.
“Uh, um, you make a good point,” I murmured, lowering my chin into my collar, well aware that if I went through with this that I wouldn’t have even that anymore. I heard an exasperated sigh from Miu.
“Listen if you’re gonna be such a nervous virgin about it, you can take off the shirt and put the fuckin’ sweater vest back on, if that’ll make your dumbass feel better,” she spat, turning around.
After a couple seconds, I realized she wanted me to change. I stripped off my backpack, sport coat, and sweater vest. I hesitated to take off my shirt and tie, but did after thinking of the alternative. I put my sweater vest back on in a feeble attempt to keep my upper body covered. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing.
“Um, you can turn around now, Miu,” I said, trying to keep my voice sounding more confident than I felt. Even with just bare arms I felt really exposed.
She whipped back around and rushed over toward me as I took some cautious steps backwards until my feet hit the bench. Miu reached behind me and set the tools in her hand on the bench and grabbed my injured arm with her now free hand. She looked over it with an intense focus.
“Damn, your body really is as incredible as I thought,” Miu muttered, gingerly but firmly holding my arm up and moving it around. When she attempted to move it at the elbow, I winced.
“O-ow,” I hissed, shrinking my shoulders back. She snapped her attention back to my face as I winced. A frown grew across her face as she kept glancing from my face to my arm. She gave me a nod.
“Alright, loser, get on my bench and lay down, I’m gonna make your arm feel even better than before you busted it, ahaha!” After her exclamation, I laid down on the bench like she said, my body stiff with nervousness. She came back with a tall chair from a few yards away and sat herself down on it, leaning over to investigate my arm once again.
“So tell me what happened again?” muttered Miu as she grabbed my hand, running her finger along the inside of my palm, tracing the outlines of my touch plates. I turned my head away from her to look at the wall as my face grew red once more.
“I was walking up the stairs and I tripped and fell on my elbow. Then it started hurting like it does now…” It sounded like an extremely dumb injury coming from my mouth, and I began to silently curse myself once again.
“Are you sure that’s how this happened?” she replied as her fingers made their way up my arm, inspecting every gap and crevice, “you don’t seem like the type to fall up the stairs.”
“I… may have been pushed,” I murmured, still facing the wall.
“What fucker pushed you into the stairs?!” Miu shouted, causing me to wince. She grabbed my face and turned my head toward hers. “Was it that limp dick fucker Kokichi? Huh??”
I couldn’t look her in the eye. As much as I thought that he was definitely robophobic, I really didn’t think he could injure me on purpose. It didn’t seem like his nature.
“I can’t say for certain who it was, I didn’t see it happen,” I answered, leaving out the fact that I was walking with him up the stairs. She let go of my face, looking dissatisfied but saying nothing further.
“Fuckin’ asshole,” muttered Miu as she started to gently pry up a plate on my arm. If I wasn’t used to this I might have flinched a little. I could feel her disconnect the touch sensors from the plate and set it beside her. I had seen the professor do this many times, but something about how gently she handled my arm made me want to watch.
She continued this process until she could get a good look at the inner workings of my arm. Honestly, I didn’t know everything that was going on in there, but I could tell from a bent piece in my upper arm that something was out of line. I expected her to reprimand me again, but she stayed oddly quiet as she removed pieces. Staring at the ceiling, I closed my eyes and held still, drifting into sleep mode.
“Hey, hey dumbass! Wake the fuck up!”
I opened my eyes slowly to see Miu hovering over me. Jolting up, I looked at my arm, lifting it hesitantly. It looked like nothing had ever even happened, and it felt really good. As I moved my arm in all directions, she backed away from the bench laughing.
“Isn’t it fuckin’ great?” she yelled, stretching her back, “looks even better than brand new too! It better feel that way too, considering all the damn work I put into it.”
I just kept staring at my arm in disbelief, it looked exactly like nothing happened. After a minute or so I looked up to her, smile growing on my face.
“Thank you so much, Miu! It’s perfect!” I exclaimed, rushing over to her, “Is there anything I can do to thank you? Please?” I wanted to do something to thank her so much, and I hoped that there was something that she’d want that I could do. She flinched and looked down at me with a nervous look on her face.
“Y-You wanna do something to thank me?” she replied, still looking nervous. It was strange considering she was so confident a minute ago, but people do often change emotions pretty quickly, so much so that it can get confusing.
“Of course!” I replied, “If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know! I don’t think I can thank you enough through words alone!” I hoped that she understood my intentions well enough. The nervous look never left her face as she looked around the room.
“I-I mean, I’ll let you know if I think of anything, Keebo,” she finally replied, fiddling with a lock of her hair, “For now, just try not to get hurt again okay? I don’t want to be fixin’ your ass every day because you get more excited than a virgin with their first time!”
Somewhere in there her vulgar confidence came back, and I discerned that she meant that I had no way to repay her as of now. I was a little disappointed, but I didn’t want to push her too much.
“Thank you again, Miu,” I said, gathering my clothing items I had taken off, “I think I’m going to wear my armor from now on though, I guess trying to wear normal clothes is a bit dangerous for me.” I sighed.
“You really wanted to wear that ugly thing today, huh?” she replied, gathering up her tools from the bench.
“Yes,” I said, looking down at my shoes, “they’re the first set of normal clothes I’ve ever gotten. I thought it would be fun to wear them today and feel like a regular high school student, but I guess that wasn’t supposed to happen. Father warned me about it too and I didn’t listen…” My voice trailed off as I realized how terrible it sounded, acting selfishly by ignoring the safety of my armor and then also having Miu fix my arm.
“So you rebelled, big whoop. It’s only normal.”
I looked up to look her in the face again.
“Huh?”
She sat down on top of her work bench, holding one of her tools with a black handle. Letting out a sigh, she kicked off one of her boots.
“Rebelling from what people tell you to do is a fuckin’ normal part of growin’ up,” she told me, inspecting the tool in her hand as she kicked off her other boot, “Do you think all of us would have gotten here if we’d done exactly what we were told? Probably not!” She leaned back on her hands and sighed.
“I don’t know,” I muttered still, looking back at my feet, “I’m not sure I would have gotten here if I hadn’t done what my father told me.”
“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t have gotten exactly here, now would you?” Miu replied loudly, leaning her upper body toward me, “I mean people hit their strides at different times, and if I get to be a part of your first time rebelling, then that ain’t too bad.”
I stood there, looking back at her with the rest of my belongings in my hands. It’s true that if I hadn’t have hurt my arm, I wouldn’t be here in her lab right now, and I wouldn’t have gotten to know more about Miu. Maybe, she was right.
“I see,” I responded, “you might have some truthfulness in your statement. I’m going to think this over later tonight.” My smile grew along with my confidence as I nodded. “Thank you, Miu!”
“No problem, Keebs,” she said back, smiling, “Now get your ass back to class like I know your virgin ass want to.”
“Aren’t you coming, too?” I asked, hoping that we could talk more.
“Nah, I just got a great fuckin’ idea, can’t risk going to class and letting it slip,” she proclaimed, “I know I’ll be seeing you around anyway, someone like you just can’t stand to be away from the gorgeous girl genius for long! Ahahaha!”
With that, I slipped out of her lab and walked into the men’s restroom to change. It dawned on me that I had walked out into the hall with only my sweater vest on once I went to remove my clothes. Feeling embarrassed, I changed back into my armor, the familiar feeling of it putting me more at ease. I folded my uniform and placed it back in my backpack, soon walking out of the restroom and into a crowded hall. Break had just started, so I had a chance to slip back into my classroom, injury free.
“Hey Keeboy, where’ve you been?”
Right before I opened the door to my classroom, I heard the same voice behind me that I heard this morning. I turned around to see none other than Kokichi with a soda in his hand.
“That’s none of your business, Kokichi,” I replied, opening the door and waving to Kaede. I set my backpack on the floor next to my desk.
“It’s a shame, really,” he continued, “that you’re not wearing those dorky clothes anymore. Didn’t look half bad in them.” I spun around.
“Wh-wha-”
“Just kidding! That’s a lie!” he cheerfully stated, taking a sip of his drink, “You look much more like a cold, unfeeling, killer robot now!”
“Gh!”
After listening to his robophobic comments, he finally left me in favor for someone else. I sat at my desk, at a loss for what to do now. All my friends were either in conversations already or out of the classroom. I took out my notebook and began to write as much as I could remember out the exchange between me and Miu.
The day soon ended, and as always I grabbed my stuff and walked out of the building. No one stopped to talk to me today, and I couldn’t find Miu anywhere outside.
“Could she still be in the building?” I wondered out loud, turning around to walk back inside. I walked back down to her lab, where I saw a light shine out the window. When I looked in the window, I saw her hunched over her bench like before, working on something I didn’t know about.
I took a piece of paper and a pencil out of my bag and sat outside her door, thinking of how to write a thank you note for someone like Miu. She was always very vulgar, but I believe that she has good intentions for the most part. My face burned bright pink as I wrote three words onto the paper (and my signature) and slid it under her door. I grabbed my items and left to go home, hoping to see her again tomorrow.
Fucking thank you.
-Keebo