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"...nnah?"
Slowly, the android woke up.
"Oshi-san..? Are ya back?"
A quick glance around the shelter told Mika that was not the case. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it either. He wondered why he was woken up.
He checked the mailbox, but his gut told him it was probably going to be empty.
It was.
"...Oh!"
Before Oshi-san left for Shelter 1, he left two things behind: His beloved doll Mademoiselle and a potted plant. Both thankfully still in the same place they’d been left.
"At least yer still with me, Madonee ♪"
"Looks like you've been getting a little dusty! 'S probably because no one's been taking care of ya, huh?" Mika gently picked up the doll and started cleaning with the fabric of his clothes.
"Nnah... Sorry about this, I don't think there's a cleaning cloth in the shelter..."
'It's alright, Mika-chan ♪ It's the thought that counts.'
...
It's really not the same without Oshi-san around.
Putting Mademoiselle back down, he turned to the potted plant.
"Ya haven't sprouted either, eh?" Mika poked at the pot. "Maybe a little water'll help."
And so, Mika started a daily routine while waiting for Oshi-san to return.
Wake up, check for any abnormalities in the shelter, check for mail, water the plant and clean Madonee if she's getting dusty. Maybe talk to her a little bit if he's really lonely.
Sometimes he'd look at old correspondence between him and Oshi-san's other creation Nazuna-nii in the other shelter, but communications between the two shelters got cut off, so he couldn't message him or anything.
But most of the time it was just him and his thoughts until he went to sleep at night.
He didn't know what day it was anymore.
Thankfully, most of his memories were intact when waking up, so he wasn't completely disoriented.
When the communications between Shelter 2 (where he was) and Shelter 1 (where Nazuna-nii and a few kids were) got cut off, Oshi-san got worried. He ended up putting Mika in sleep mode and setting off by himself.
Mika still wasn't sure why he insisted on going alone.
"He should've reached Shelter 1 by now, shouldn't he?"
The android found himself voicing out all of his thoughts.
"No good... I'm too stupid for this."
He wanted to see Oshi-san again. He really, really wanted to see him again. Have more fun talks with him.
Maybe instead of waiting, he should be the one to make the first move. Maybe Oshi-san's at Shelter 1, waiting for him.
That's it!
"I'll go look for Oshi-san!"
Mika turned to look at Mademoiselle and the potted planet.
‘Mika-chan, don’t forget me!’
"There’s no way I could forget about ya, Madonee!" He smiled. "I should probably bring the potted plant too, huh?"
The outside world was less friendly than he remembered.
It was surely the fault of the sky falling, wasn't it?
Mika tried his best not to think about it, and kept going.
He still hasn't reached Shelter 1 yet, but on the bright side, he managed to meet a lot of things, and made sure to greet them.
"G'morning!"
On the less bright side, he's had to leave a lot of things behind. Aside from Mademoiselle and the potted plant, he brought a few other things he deemed important. Over time, they became harder to carry, so now all he was left was two things.
There was no way he could leave behind Oshi-san's precious doll, and he felt like he'd been entrusted to take care of the plant.
" 'ts a good thing you can hold the pot perfectly, huh, Madon-"
Drip, drip drip. He was cut off by a sudden downpour of rain..
It hurt. Rain wasn't supposed to hurt.
Mika held his two companions close to him and rushed for the nearest cover.
The first thing Mika did after reaching safety was check on Mademoiselle and the plant.
"Neither of ya got hurt, lucky ♪"
The place he ended up in seemed like some sort of abandoned convenience store. Pinging his GPS, it seemed like he didn't stray too far from his planned route.
"The satellites are a bit busted though, so it might not be accurate..." he mused. "Nnah! Being negative's no good, I should trust whatever I have!"
Then he noticed the little bits of rust and corrosion where the rain had hit.
"Guess 'm busted up too, huh?"
It would be a good time to take a break. The rain didn't seem like it'd be stopping soon, and he was exhausted from travelling for a few days straight.
“G’morning, Madonee! G’morning, potted plant! G’morning, Shelter-san!”
It’s been a few days and the rain showed no signs of stopping. Regardless, Mika continued to water the plant daily and took some time to tidy up Mademoiselle a bit.
“All clean! Sorry I couldn’t clean ya properly while travellin', Madonee.”
But he was starting to get restless. Surely, Oshi-san was waiting for him at shelter 1, he had to get going soon.
When he first settled in the abandoned convenience store, he took some time to look for anything useful. Anything that could be considered food (which usually made up a large chunk of a convenience store) was long gone, not that he needed to eat in the first place. All that was left were some knicknacks. Nothing useful.
An umbrella would’ve been nice, but they were all kept outside the store, knocked over and broken likely long before the rain started. But they were all cheap plastic umbrellas, so it wasn't unexpected.
Out of desperation, Mika went outside and checked the pile of umbrellas one more time.
“...nnah?”
Open. Close. Open. Close. He found an umbrella that worked perfectly.
“Madonee! Madonee! I found a workin’ umbrella!” He ran back inside the store. “We can continue lookin’ for Oshi-san!”
‘My, that’s wonderful ♪’
“Isn’t it? We should hurry!”
Mademoiselle and pot in one hand, umbrella in the other, Mika continued on his journey.
The umbrella had a good run.
“Good night, Umbrella-san... “ Mika muttered as he discarded the torn umbrella. He made a good amount of progress with it, but the endless rain slowly but surely wore down the clear vinyl.
He could feel the rain slowly corroding his metal body, but he didn't want to stop now. He couldn't, not when he was so close to seeing Oshi-san again. Mika held his two companions close and buckled down, focusing on the GPS in his head slowly counting down the distance to Shelter 1.
It was fine if his whole body was corroded. As long as he could reach the shelter, Oshi-san do maintenance on him and would fix him up as best as he could.
“Just… wait for me… A little longer…”
There it was, in the distance. Shelter 1. The doors were open, surely, they knew he was coming. They were waiting for him.
Mika started to run. It was hard, but he ran.
He would get to see Nazuna-nii again after so long. He hasn’t seen him since the sky fell.
He would meet the kids Nazuna-nii spoke so fondly of for the first time. He hoped they would like him.
He would get to see his beloved Oshi-san again.
With those thoughts keeping him strong, he kept running.
Upon entering the shelter, Mika could immediately tell why communications stopped. Most of the shelter’s functionality was knocked out. It was quiet.
He didn’t see any kids anywhere.
Maybe they're a bit further into the shelter. That's it.
He continued on. All he could hear was the sound of his own footsteps.
He found Nazuna-nii in sleep mode. A quick glance told Mika that his "older brother" was somehow worse for wear than he was.
While the extent of Mika's damage was mostly having his exterior corroded by the rain, the other boy's exterior was straight up gone in some parts, revealing the gears and wires that made up his interior.
Further examination showed that, the important parts that kept the android functioning were mostly intact. Nazuna-nii could (probably) wake up.
Mika really wanted Nazuna-nii to wake up, but he felt like he should leave the him alone for now. He wasn't sure if he could wake him up without Oshi-san's help anyways.
He got up and continued on, hope renewed slightly. Even if the kids weren't here, at least he could be together with Nazuna-nii and Oshi-san still.
More poking around in the shelter led to the discovery of a small stack of records, penned in Oshi-san's neat handwriting. The discovery made him giddy.
If his letters were here, it must mean that he made it to the shelter, right? Surely, Oshi-san was alive, just a bit further in.
He tried to ignore the unease slowly eating him up.
Deeper into the shelter, he found the sleep capsules. All but one was empty.
At last, he found the person he was looking for, sleeping peacefully.
Mika's body finally gave out. He fell to the floor, knees weak. His Oshi-san was right in front of him, up close, he could tell that...
…
He was completely still.
It couldn't be. How could it be?! There's no way it could be. Please don't let it be...
“Oshi-san’s gone.”
He’s gone.
Even though he wanted to see him again so badly. He’s gone. Everyone was gone.
The last bit of his strength left him and Mademoiselle fell from his hands along with the pot.
He barely noticed.
It was so sad.
so sad.
so sad
drip
drip
drip
as if things couldnt get worse
it seems like the rain got into the shelter
he mustered the energy to look up
the ceiling was intact
he looked back down
it was his own tears
madonee was splayed on the ground
sorry about that
and the pot
there was a small green sprout peeking from the soil
it sprouted
It sprouted. After being watered by his tears, the plant sprouted. It grew, and grew and grew into a large stalk, going higher and higher carrying Mika with it.
He saw so many new things.
To the earth bathed in love, good morning!
To the day, noon and night, good morning!
To the stars and the galaxy, good morning!
The stalk went past the clouds into the heavens, where everyone was waiting.
To Nazuna-nii and the kids who were at Shelter 1, good morning!
"Kagehira!"
"Oshi-san!"
To the you I wanted to meet so much, good morning!
...
how nice that would be
mika felt his consciousness fading
to the newly born you
who sprouted alongside a nice dream
goodmorning goodmorning
to madonee
who stuck with me through it all
thankyou goodnight
to oshisan
who i wanted to see so much
goodmorning
see you soon
Process finished with exit code 1