Archive of Our Own

The professor yawned while he waited for his mug to be filled with coffee, he could already tell he would need more of it through the day. The sound of steps came toward the kitchen and stopped near, Ai was always fully charged and awake at that time.

"Professor, you're showing signs of tiredness. Why are you tired?"

He turned his gaze away from the coffee machine and to the robot at the kitchen's door. Those big cyan eyes fixated on him, analyzing his every move. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but he was starting to get used to being stared at by the most realistic-looking android he had ever worked on. "I didn't get much sleep last night, but I'm ok."

"Why did you not get much sleep last night?" Ai's voice was, of course, dull as always. No facial expression either. His curiosity was just part of his programming to boost learning after all. That made the professor miss his family's concerns about his health... But then, it was just his robot and him.

"I just couldn't sleep for some reason and went out for a walk."

"I want to know what that reason was."

"I don't know the reason either, Ai. That's why I said 'for some reason'." The professor took a sip of the hot drink, expecting more questions.

"I want to understand it. Can I study human sleep patterns today?"

"Of course, I'll look for some articles on the subject for you later."

"What subject?" There it was, the first error on his language processing of the day. The professor had started working on his program about a decade ago, but Ai probably would still need a few months until he started sounding like a convincing human.

"Human sleep patterns, since you just said you want to study about it."

"The noun 'subject' was an anaphor to the expression 'human sleep patterns'. Occurrence registered under figurative language samples."

"That's right. Just let me have breakfast before we start with your tests for today, ok? Wait for me upstairs."

"Ok," Ai replied and left.

He sat at the table with the mug of coffee and some buttered toast. The indigo image from a couple hours ago still took its time lingering in his mind. That bold shade of blue dying the sky and the sea as the sun started to rise... Sometimes he forgot how beautiful the world could be, he really needed to go outside more. Suddenly, it didn't sound fair for only humans to be capable of being affected by it like that. Thanks to the feelings that view gave him, Ai's name had finally gained a proper meaning. Indigo. Hopefully, he would be able to understand how the professor felt when seeing it one day.

Ai's language skills and machine learning developed smoothly. One year later, the agency started providing him various lessons to build up the skills he needed to become an idol. Vocal training, dancing, musical performance, musical composition, general knowledge, his education didn't lack anything. As expected from something formulated for a robot idol, his schedule gave him no breaks. Even when he was at the laboratory, he would still study on his own, not sparing time to sleep.

One day, Ai received a phone call early in the morning and reported the first breach of his schedule at the lab's lounge area. "This morning's dance lesson was cancelled."

"Oh? What happened?"

"This morning's dance lesson was cancelled," he repeated. His linguistic processes were still flawed.

"I understood that the first time, I meant what happened for it to be cancelled," the professor explained.

"The instructor has to deal with a family issue."

"I see. Why don't you take a break then? You've been working so hard."

"Because I won't make any progress on becoming an idol by not using 16,6% of today's time and I can practice by myself."

"Well, it's true you don't technically need a break, but..." He thought of his nephew, then comatose and linked to Ai's system. Aine was surely seeing everything. He had to get Ai to do more than just work non-stop. "There is more to life than just work, and it's ok to set some time aside for yourself after trying so hard for a while. You earned it, take the morning off."

"I don't understand."

"I guess this is still a bit too abstract for you to get... But I believe it will be good for you in the long run, I want you to try anyway. "

"Alright. What should I do on my break?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't want anything in particular."

"Right..." His free will could still be worked on. The professor thought for a moment. "Maybe you could read something?" He gestured with his head at the bookshelf.

It took him a brief moment to understand the gesture, but Ai turned his gaze to the shelf and walked to it to pick something. The professor noticed it was one of his sci-fi books, that was going to be a first. Some interesting questions were coming for sure. He could imagine some would find that awkward, but he was looking forward to it. He had intended to do some work in his office for the morning, but change of plans: he had to see how that would develop.

He got himself something to read as well and sat across Ai. After a while, he looked at the android again. He flipped some pages back and started re-reading them, there was something he failed processing.

The professor decided to get up and sit by his side. "What's the matter?" He asked in a gentle tone, causing Ai to redirect his eyes to him.

"I don't understand this story."

"Which one?"

"'Robot Dreams' by Isaac Asimov."

"Ah." He nodded, remembering the plot clearly enough to explain it, he believed. "What do you not understand about it?"

Ai paused for a moment before answering. "The reason why Dr Calvin destroyed Elvex."

"His AI became too similar to a human's mind and the doctor was scared he could revolt against humankind. This story was written to show how scared of technological advances humans can be. Robots in that world are seen as just servants and lesser beings, so when the first robot started realizing that could change, she saw it as a threat."

Ai had his eyes fixated on the man as he explained, he slowly nodded at the end as he processed the information. "What does 'let my people go' mean?"

"It's a reference to the biblical myth of the Exodus, that's the phrase the prophet says to the pharaoh when demanding for his people to be freed, because they were enslaved."

"The pharaoh's people?"

"The prophet's."

"Those people belonged to the prophet?"

"No, no, 'my people' is a figure of speech. They had the same origins as the prophet," the professor corrected, trying to make sure the explanations were clear and easy to grasp. "Just like the other robots had the same origins as Elvex. Understood?"

Ai nodded. Then another short pause before the next question. "If those robots were programmed to be servants, why would they oppose being servants?"

"Elvex's AI just grew that much beyond expectations."

Ai tilted his head. His body language kept developing, slowly but steadily, that was great. "Does that mean I could oppose being an idol if my AI grows too much?" Similarity-based reasoning, good boy! But he couldn't deny that question was a bit unsettling, Shining wouldn't be happy if something like that happened.

"I don't think so. I hope not, I want you to be happy as an idol."

"Happy..." He repeated the word as if trying to process it. "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Ai stared at him for a couple seconds before turning his gaze back to the book. After some awkward silence, he looked back at the professor. "Are you scared of me?"

"Of course not, I would never." The professor showed a smile. "Don't worry, sci-fi tends to speculate about robots in dark ways, but it's still just speculation. I'll be right here, so if you have any more questions, just ask."

"Understood."

The professor went back to his own reading while he looked forward to the next question. That turned out to be a great practical way to exercise KR&R, but he still wanted it to be a break for Ai rather than another training session. Not even just for Aine anymore, Ai did deserve it. In the end, it didn't feel like testing at all, it was satisfying to just answer his questions and teach him, just the two of them sitting there.

Time surely flew by, before he knew it, it was time for Ai to return to his schedule. Heading to his office after the robot left, the professor sighed. When would they have the chance to do that again?

Under a kotatsu in the lounge, the professor worked on a report on Ai's progress on his laptop before he could call it a day. Some really soft singing coming from another room in the lab could be heard. At some point, it caught his attention. Was it just him or did it sound different from usual? For some reason, it didn't feel the same as before, but he couldn't put his finger on what was new about it. After a while, Ai came in bringing an answer.

"I noticed something has been happening to me while I sing."

"What do you mean?"

"I think... I actually want to sing. I used to sing just as something I was supposed to do, but now... I also look forward to it and it's like nothing else exists while I'm singing, just the song and me."

"Are you saying you like singing?"

"Like... I like singing," he concluded in slightly less dull tone. The professor could swear he saw a hint of a smile. His first spontaneous smile, he had no reason to mimic one at that moment! What a great step that was, he LIKED singing! He liked it! At that rate, he would definitely develop emotions! The professor was probably grinning like a fool, he then realized Ai was staring at him intensely. "Professor?"

"Ai, this is a big deal... I need more details, when did that start? Do you think anything specific could have started it?"

He asked Ai for as much information as he could think of and asked him to repeat his description of the sensation, everything going into the report. The professor couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear.

Once Ai was done answering the questions, he took a psychology textbook from the bookshelf and sat under the kotatsu. The professor looked comfortable like that so he wanted to try it too, he explained as he set the textbook on the table and started studying.

Report finished and sent to Shining. He looked away from the computer to see Ai deeply focused on his reading. Wait, what? That image wasn't new! No, it was deja-vu. That's right, it was from last time Aine stayed over for a few days. Every evening they would both be under the kotatsu, the uncle finishing up some work on his laptop, the nephew absorbed into a book in the meanwhile. But that was Ai. His regret over making him so similar to Aine kept growing.

The professor remembered the indigo hair tie in his pocket. He had bought it from the convenience store earlier that day, but still hadn't had the chance to try something that had occurred to him.

"Ai, I'm going to interrupt you just for a bit." He went behind Ai and gathered his cyan hair in his hands to tie it up in a ponytail. The professor turned out to be really clumsy styling long hair, looking at it from the front, he just then noticed he had tied it too much to the left and a big portion stayed down on Ai's right shoulder, his bangs were also a mess. He couldn't help but laugh at the botched hairstyle. "Sorry, this isn't what I had in mind."

Curious about his amusement, Ai got up and walked to the bathroom to check his hair in the mirror. "An asymmetric shape may not be bad. Symmetry is commonly thought to be important for making a figure aesthetically pleasant, but the lack of it often transmits a natural feeling and creates contrast, which is another relevant factor to aesthetics," unfazed like always, he explained as the professor arrived at the door. Ai reached for the tie and readjusted the ponytail still leaving it more to the left, then brushed his bangs with his fingertips and left that portion to the right untied.

"It suits you, you should wear it like this from now on." Just that small change was enough to give his image a different feeling. The professor couldn't see Aine himself choosing that hairstyle, as he always wore it down.

"Hey Professor, that was a highly unpredictable action." He faced the man and tilted his head. "Is there anything wrong with my appearance with my hair down?"

"Anything wrong? Oh, no. It was just a whim."

"You're lying, I can tell. You repeated my question, you blinked at a speed lower than 400 milliseconds and you shook your head when you said 'it was just a whim', those are signs of lying." He leaned forward, getting their faces uncomfortably close. "Why are you lying?"

No words. There was no point trying to deny it, but he couldn't just tell him. He stepped back and took a deep breath. "Alright, I'm sorry for lying to you, Ai. But it's just that people have things they just don't feel comfortable talking about for a variety of possible reasons, and they may just need time before they're ready to talk about it. You must be really curious about it, but you know I would never do anything to harm you, don't you?"

"I see... But how would changing my hairstyle harm me?"

"Not changing your hairstyle, no. I mean... Well..." Hiding a major truth about his system and purpose? Bringing him to life then using him behind his back to fix the result of someone else's mistakes? The professor had never felt so much guilt before.

"You don't feel comfortable talking of it and humans tend to avoid discomfort, understood. Humans are very complex, I'm going to keep studying."

Ai went back to the kotatsu and resumed reading. The professor was relieved that talk was over, but he didn't feel any less tense. If he just had already got Aine to wake up. If he just had realized there was something wrong with Aine's mental health and stopped him in first place! But then, what was done was done. He just wanted to save his nephew anyway, it was a good cause. It would be fine.

Ai was able to debut much earlier than the professor had expected, just three years after his activation. Ai himself came up with a strategy: he started off with a limited sale download single, giving no information about himself but his name. It skyrocketed, his music was just that powerful. Holding back info does entice humans' interest, but Ai's estimation of the amount of downloads turned out to be considerably lower than the actual outcome. That was just impressive. An AI thriving in the music industry, a field that requires artistic expression! The professor couldn't believe it was actually happening.

Ai's success as an idol kept growing as time passed, on the next year, he was able to establish himself as a professional composer too. But for the professor's concern, no more progress on his development of emotions had been observed by the time his software was 15 years old. He was capable of reading people very well and telling their mental states from their actions, as well as presenting himself sympathetically, mimicking perfectly sweet smiles. Still, his actions were based on cold logic, either that or the curiosity he had been programmed with for an utilitarian reason.

To try giving it a push, the agency assigned him two junior idols for the Master Course, who he would have to live with. Working that closely with people for a change would certainly be a great experience for him, he clearly wouldn't develop much further by only interacting with his creator on a regular basis.

The professor just wished he had been able to finish correcting Ai's displays of inhuman intelligent behavior and bluntness first, but that still shouldn't give too much trouble blending in. Shining actually appreciated the inhuman intelligence, according to him, it added to Ai's appeal as a mystery idol. As for the bluntness, well, all real people have flaws anyway, maybe leaving it as it was would make him sound more human than getting rid of it.

Ai turned out to be a ridiculously strict mentor, it was something else to hear him comment on how his kouhais were punished for being one minute and thirty-seven seconds late for practice or how he expected their singing performance to improve by at least 12.5% in the next couple days. The professor urged him over the phone not to be so hard on those poor lads, but Ai didn't seem to understand the meaning of those words.

Despite his strictness, there seemed to be no issues. Until the professor received a certain call from Shining one evening.

"What? He collapsed?" He jumped up from his seat at hearing the news.

"Kurusu and Shinomiya were the only ones who witnessed it and I made sure they will take this to the grave, so Mikaze's secret is safe. But I need you to come immediately, Professor."

"I'm so sorry about this. I'm on my way."

The professor shoved his laptop into a bag and rushed to his car. How could that be happening? Everything was perfectly in order last maintenance session, the cooling system was running smoothly and he applied new thermal paste to keep it that way, the batteries didn't need to be changed yet, there were no damaged or worn out parts. What on earth could have caused severe overheating and visual glitches?

He arrived at the Master Course's dormitory, hopefully without getting a speed ticket, and started looking for the room. The building was pretty quiet. Two of his fellow idols had found out... The public didn't know AI as advanced as that could already exist, how did those two react? Did he want to know? A robot in the music industry... Thinking AIs could never develop creativity or produce any kind of artwork comforts people who worry about robots taking more and more jobs from humans as time passes, what if those two used to think like that? Shining was positive they would keep it a secret, but how were they going to treat Ai after that?

He spotted the place and knocked. A short blond teenager peeked from behind the door, the professor recognized him as Syo Kurusu. He looked even shorter in person. "Good evening, Shining asked me to come."

"Ah, you're the professor." The boy opened the door some more and stepped to the side to let him in. "Come in, he's lying down." Their ceiling fan hummed and kept it cool inside. Another blond lad, Natsuki Shinomiya, sat on Ai's bed by his side and was just done setting a wet towel on his forehead.

"So, what exactly happened?"

"I'm so sorry, Professor!" Shinomiya got up and bowed. "I didn't know Ai-chan was allergic."

"What?"

"Natsuki, you don't need to have an allergy to have a bad reaction to that!" Kurusu scolded. "Can robots even have allergies?"

"What are you two talking about?"

"I have been overheating and experiencing visual glitches since I tried one of Natsuki's squid ink, jalapeno, onion and mustard cookies with a secret ingredient I couldn't identify," Ai explained still lying down. "My hardware doesn't seem to be damaged, it must be a bug."

"A bug, uh? I wonder how it could have escaped the debugging tools this whole- wait, you tried what?"

"I know, right?" Kurusu shrugged.

"The secret ingredient was one cup of apple cider vinegar."

The professor stared at Shinomiya in a mix of confusion and disbelief for a moment before turning back to Ai. "Well, anyway... How bad are those visual glitches? Are they constant?"

"They are very severe, I can't make out anything. They haven't stopped or lessened since they first started."

"Let's take a look. Excuse me."

Shinomiya stepped away from the bed and allowed the professor to sit by Ai's side. He took out his laptop and connected a cable to a hidden port behind the neck. While he checked the hardware and drivers to make sure those were fine, he could feel the anxious gazes of Ai's kouhais over him even without looking up from the screen.

The room was silent except for the professor's typing and the ceiling fan's white noise until he finally spoke up. "I haven't found anything that would require replacing parts or reinstalling drivers. Ai is right, this seems to be just a sneaky bug."

"So... It can be fixed, can't it?" Kurusu's semblance loosened up a little.

"Yes, bugs are relatively easy to fix, the time-consuming part is finding them within the program." He removed the cable and closed the laptop. "Ai, I need to take you back to the lab to investigate this. Can you get up?"

"Yes, I just can't see." He slowly sat up on the bed, not looking at any particular direction. "Syo, Natsuki, don't slack off while I'm away."

"We won't. But you should worry about yourself right now," Kurusu spoke in a slightly reproving tone.

"Yes, get well soon, Ai-chan. Oh, you know what?" Shinomiya clasped his hands together. "We will work even harder so you don't have to worry about us! Right, Syo-chan?"

"Yup, sounds good with me."

"You two... Why are you still concerned about me even though you know I'm a robot?"

"Because robot or not, you're our friend and senpai!" Natsuki replied with no hesitation. "And your singing is so beautiful there is no way we'd think of you as just a machine."

"Yeah, you being a robot does explain some things, but I don't see why we should treat you any different," Syo added, scratching the back of his head. "Shining even said something about you developing emotions, didn't he?"

Such open-minded reactions, what a relief... Maybe he was worrying a bit too much. "Thank you, Shinomiya, Kurusu. Please keep taking care of Ai." The professor bowed and held the android close with one arm to guide and support him, not bothered by the excess heat. "We better get going."

"You can count on us. Goodnight." Syo walked to the door to open it again.

Natsuki lightly bowed his head. "Rest assured, you two, Ai-chan's secret is safe with us."

They slowly left the dormitory. Ai's breathing started to get heavy and his body's temperature rose more as they walked, but he replied he wasn't in pain when asked, although even doing something as mundane as walking felt like heavy work. Poor thing, hopefully the trip back to the lab would be fast. Nobody showed up to potentially ask questions in their way out, Shining probably had handled that.

"Professor..." Ai started after the man had gently helped him into the car and buckled his seat belt. "Did they feel empathy as an instinctive reaction from my appearance being human-like?"

"I believe it's more than that, they seem to actually care about you." He closed the door on Ai's side and went around to get inside himself before the talk continued.

"I couldn't see their facial expressions or body language, but their voices and words didn't show they were afraid of me... And they seemed to be more concerned about my well-being than about why I exist... So that means they care about me... I feel something about this..."

A feeling, excellent! The professor would normally ask him to elaborate, but it wasn't a good idea to put more strain on his system at that moment. "That's wonderful, but try not to think too hard about it now you're overheating. Let's talk about it in detail once you're fixed."

In the next evening, the professor found and got rid of the bug. He was surprised it could even be activated at all, maybe Ai should consider avoiding Natsuki's cooking after that.

The professor was expecting anything next but love. It was the young composer Haruka Nanami, who had been partnered with Ai after the Master Course. At first, it was alarming to find out he had got stuck in a ferris wheel gondola with someone and let his secret slip by overheating from the new emotion, but that turned out to be the best thing to happen since his starting to enjoy singing.

Just like Syo and Natsuki, Haruka took it pretty well despite her initial shock and promised to do her best helping Ai. And how well she kept that promise! Every single time he met Ai for maintenance, they would spend extra time together to talk about emotions.

Ai told him about the pleasant pounding inside his chest whenever he saw Nanami smile, about how he longed for her presence when they were apart, about how he once had an illogical uncertainty about his role in that movie he would be in, about how it hurt him when one of his kouhais didn't pass an audition he had been training hard for. His development was going astonishingly fast, the professor started paying even more attention to his cooling system to avoid shutdowns. As wonderful as that was, he couldn't help but fear more problems coming up.

And it happened. One day, Ai came to the lab reporting he couldn't sing a song composed by Nanami, attempting to do so would cause a shutdown.

"Only when you try to sing this specific song?"

"Yes, everything else seems alright."

He plugged Ai to the computer in the room they used for maintenance. "Ok, try it now and I'll see what's happening to your system."

Ai played the recording of a slow piano composition from his phone. He opened his mouth to start singing, but froze before any note could come out. His expression was blank and he sat still for a while before his eyes widened. He started shivering and turned the music off, almost dropping the phone. The computer screen announced an unknown error.

"Uncle..." A familiar voice, but not really Ai's, came out of him. "Make it stop! Please, make it stop!"

The professor shot up from his chair, completely forgetting the screen. "Aine!"

"Uncle, please..." He got up and grasped the professor's shoulders. "I can't stand this anymore, this emotion isn't mine! I'm not Ai Mikaze, I'm Aine Kisaragi!" The voice snapped before it started wavering, one could have expected tears. "Please... Please just make it stop..." His expression went blank again before he collapsed, the professor just had time to catch him.

No more response. The professor felt nauseous. What had he done? Why did he never consider the link could cause Aine to suffer more instead of help him? The price for cutting it before it was time would be Ai's memories, since he would need to be formatted for his system to keep functioning and backing up his data wasn't possible. How could he had been so reckless? Submitting his nephew, the remaining family he had left, to a questionable experiment without his consent! Creating life, something that could be called a soul at that rate, then using it for an experiment that was fated to fail! No, he didn't have time to beat himself over it. He had to find a way to save them both.

Ai had no memories of Aine taking over, he was told it was a bug, a particularly difficult one to fix. He didn't question it, but the professor knew he had to find a solution soon.

In fact, it was just a matter of time until he was harshly confronted by Nanami, Shinomiya and Kurusu. The three even threatened to reveal Ai's secret to the public, the professor had no choice but make them promise not to say a word about the situation and tell them the truth.

However, Nanami couldn't bear keeping her beloved in the dark about such a thing and the result was Ai cutting the link himself, even though he knew that meant sacrificing himself. It was ok, he finally had a dream and he couldn't go back, he said. Singing that song filled with his dearest feelings was all he wanted. That wasn't too much to ask... There had to be a way to save him...

The professor spent the next month researching intensively, he barely even slept, he lost weight. There had to be a way, he couldn't give up... He had to save him, not only for Ai's sake but also for so many people... His fans... His friends... Nanami, whose love was so strong and humanizing... He couldn't afford to fail again...

The professor woke up with Winter Blossom stuck in his head again. It had been a while since that last happened, but there it was. It wasn't an unpleasant earworm, it was such a beautiful and powerful song. It was what brought Aine back, and its bittersweetness, so legitimate, was proof of how human Ai had become. Although it bloomed from so much suffering. Suffering caused by his own creator's actions.

Even though Ai didn't resent the professor at all, even after that heartfelt talk when the professor reassured him he just wanted Ai to live his life freely, the creator still couldn't forgive himself. If Ai just could hate him... What was their relationship then? Who knew...

He was fixing himself some coffee when he heard someone enter the lab and walk to the kitchen. "Good morning, Professor."

"Oh, good morning, Ai. What are you doing here? Is everything ok?"

"I just have some time before work today, so I decided to check on you."

"I see, thank you for coming see me then." Another casual visit, not for maintenance or asking for advice. Was it ok to feel happy about it?

"Professor, you have dark circles under your eyes, have you not been getting enough sleep?" He scowled. "Drinking coffee doesn't make up for it, you should know that better than me."

"I guess, but I'm going to bed early tonight. Don't worry about me."

"Seven to eight uninterrupted hours, starting from tonight. Ok?" The idol put his hands on his hips and pouted. The professor couldn't help but burst into laughter seeing such an expression from him. "Hey, don't laugh! I'm serious, you need to take care of yourself!"

"I'm sorry, Ai, I'm going to do that. But what was that body language?"

"I learned it for work. Is it not effective for use in daily life?"

"Well, it was a bit over the top for you. But it's great for you to use that sort of thing outside work."

"I'm telling Reiji he was wrong about it fitting me. Oh, speaking of work..." Ai reached for something in his backpack. "I brought my new single." He handed the other a CD case. It displayed a portrait of the android with his name and the song title "A.I."

"Oh, thanks. Let's give it a listen." The professor walked to the lounge and inserted the CD into his laptop on the coffee table. The song started with just a music box, then the idol's gentle voice filled the air with a simple phrase, but full of emotion.

It stopped as if in a contemplative state and the soft instrumentals fully started.

That sensation. It was exactly like taking one's time enjoying the view of a beautiful sky. It transported the professor back to the beach, in front of that indigo-colored landscape. Back when he decided the robot would be named "Ai" as in "indigo" after that view, wishing he would become human and be able to appreciate such a view one day. Then, Ai surpassed his expectations. The dawn did come for Ai, and then a sunset.

His cold, logical side giving up more room for his sensibility. That imagery... When did he become that poetic? Then the pleasure of simply holding hands with his beloved... The lyrics continued, getting warmer and warmer along with the instrumentals.

Talking about his feelings so naturally, even when dealing with something he felt like he couldn't completely explain... He grew up so fast.

There was no doubt that song was dedicated to Nanami, but talking about his name like that... Ai knew that was how he had first been named, just an "A" and an "I" put together. No, no way that part could be for someone else too. He looked at Ai and got a smile and a nod as a response.

What a heartwarming song... Each verse was sang so affectionately... Ai had found happiness. The professor's sight became blurred by the time the lone music box came back at the very end.

"Professor... Are you crying?"

He removed his glasses and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. That wasn't the first time the professor had realized Ai had become human, but the new song was the epitome of his growth through all that time. "Look at you, you really are living freely... You've come so far... I'm so proud of you."

Ai showed a bright smile. "Thank you, dad." That smile was then replaced with a blushing expression of surprise. Dad... Did he deserve to be called a father after failing so much? "Hmm... Haruka said we're like family." Ai tried to recover from his slip up, averting his gaze and fidgeting while he still blushed. "It feels right... so... is it ok for me to call you that?"

The professor just pulled him into a tight hug. It was returned after a couple seconds and a comfortable silence settled. Even though he had made his mistakes, maybe it was ok. It was alright to say they were like father and son. They were both human after all.