Work Text:
The process to create Hopes Protector wasn't as difficult as they knew the surgery would be. Simply put together skin like material over a carefully constructed skeleton with an AI plugged in as its brain and voila. Hope's Protector, Code Name: Nanami.
Obviously, they had to give her a more human appearance for the subject to actually trust. Artificial eyes with a warm pink color, lifelike teeth and tongue texture, and lavender colored curly hair.
They needed to give her a personality as well, nobody would open up to an empty shell. One of the programmers who worked on all the mechanics for the project decided to base her personality off of his deceased daughter and so the antisocial, quiet, yet empathetic Chiaki Nanami was born.
A few months prior, they had lost a beloved student to a car crash. To honor the poor girl the programming team decided to give the robot a talent as well. The Ultimate Gamer, Chiaki Nanami was officially complete.
Now that the prologue was complete, here came the first chapter in this miraculous birth of the world's savior.
Hajime Hinata was scouted by Hopes Peak specifically for this project. He had spent a few months in the reserve course before the deaths of two classmates had led him to finally agreeing to the project. He was brought down into the lab and had analysis' done for the scientists to see what exactly they needed to change physically. On the first day of the Kamakura Project, Hajime had met Chiaki for the first time.
-
After being brought to the lab 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 Hopes Peak, he was asked to change into a hospital gown then put through a few tests. They were simple physical health exams, testing reflexes, sight, hearing, ect. It wasn't anything horrible. When the tests were complete Hajime was led to where he'd be staying for the duration of the project.
It was a large yet very bland room. The walls were stark white and in the middle of the room sat a bed, what Hajime didn't expect was a 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 to be sitting in front of the bed.
She was on a Nantendo Game Girl Advance, simply tapping away with a cat hoodie flipped on her head. She wore a dark navy blue cat jacket with a white undershirt and a dark blue line straight down the undershirt with a cute pink bow, a tan skirt and dark navy blue high knee socks. To top off the look, the girl had pink clip-on shoes and a Gala Omega hairclip.
Hajime glanced over to the scientist with a shocked expression, but the man stared blankly at the girl.
"She is going to help you through the project. Someone your age you can talk to and be friends with. A support system if you will."
The man left the room and left the two in awkward silence, the only sound in the room being the girl's game as she swiftly moved her fingers before the ' Stage Cleared ' sound played.
Finally, the girl looked up and the two made eye contact. Her pink eyes were half open and her blank stare sort of intimidated the older boy.
Deciding to start conversation, Hajime walked closer with an awkward smile. "Gala Omega, right?" He asked as he stopped a few steps away from the girl. The girl stared blankly for a few more seconds before smiling and nodding excessively. "I'm really happy you know it, nobody else has ever even heard of the genre."
Hajime breathed a small sigh of relief that a conversation was starting smoothly and came up to her before sitting on the bed behind her. The mattress was soft and comfortable, it would be easy to fall asleep on it.
The girl's head followed him as he sat down before she stood up and extended her hand towards him. "Hello. I'm Chiaki Nanami, it's nice to meet you." Despite her monotone voice, her smile felt warm and comforting to the boy. He couldn't help but smile back as he extended his hand and cupped hers in his own.
"I'm Hajime Hinata, it's nice to meet you too."
Somehow, he had a feeling they'd get along.
---
A few weeks went by, the more extreme tests were now being put into practice. The scientists studied his brain activity, they cut into his skin to view his muscles, and tested a few drugs to see how well his immune system was.
It was exhausting and by the end of the tests he was always left overwhelmed. He wasn't even given a watch or a clock, only being able to sleep when he was told too.
Yet despite it all, Hajime couldn't say he regretted his decision. Not only was he going to finally get a talent, but he also got to meet Chiaki.
As he learned, she wasn't much for a conversation unless it involved games. Funnily enough, the two loved the same type of games. Well, more like Chiaki loved every genre of games so no matter what Hajime liked she was bound to enjoy it too.
He found out she was an ultimate. Apparently, her dad has been working on the project and since ultimate's didn't have to attend class, he had offered for her to stay down here while he worked, and she agreed. Though honestly Hajime should've known based on how good she was at the games she played on her Game Girl Advance.
Another thing the soon-to-be Ultimate Hope discovered was that she tended to get sleepy. Alot. Most of the time after tests finish, he would come into the room and if she wasn't on her game console, she was sleeping.
She was easy to talk too, and Hajime always looked forward to their next conversation.
After some persuading from Chiaki, the scientists caved and decided to give Hajime his Game Boy Advance that they had confiscated back so the two could play together. Everytime they played fighting games against one another, Hajime would never even get close to beating her but somehow, he didn't feel disappointed when he'd lost to her.
--
It was their daily routine. Hajime would wake up and talk to Chiaki as he was eating breakfast before a scientist came to get him for tests.
He'd go through hours and hours of different grueling tests that normally resulted in him being knocked out or half-conscious before going back to the room for dinner and playing games with Chiaki before a scientist came to collect his Game Boy and Hajime would watch Chiaki play before falling asleep and the cycle would repeat.
That was the routine he'd known for so long... why did it feel weird now?
...
It didn't matter.
...
It had been a few months by now, they had started to go closer and closer towards the brain surgery that would finally grant... H-..Hajime the talent he wanted for so long.
By now, he had grown much more attached to Chiaki. He confided in her how the tests made him feel, how spaced out he would feel, and it would feel like nothing was real anymore. Like he was in a dream.. or a video game.
Most of the time these rants would result in him in tears with her on the bed comforting him as he cried himself to sleep. It was getting difficult for him to even remember how to pronounce his name.. but Chiaki was always there for him. He would never forget her.. he could never.
--
It had been a few weeks since Hajime was taken from the room one final time. Now Chiaki Nanami was all alone. All she had was a game girl advance and her own generated thoughts. She felt lonely.
She knew what was going on, she had been informed of the whole plan the moment her AI was turned on. She thought she was prepared for it. She was told her AI was more advanced than any other device. How unlike most, she could actually have emotions. She was told she should feel honored and important because she was but..
She felt like it was better if she had none. Maybe then, this feeling in her artificially made chest would stop.
..
It had been a month when a scientist finally entered the brightly lit room again. She had just finished the final stage of Gala Omega for the 11th time in a row when he had walked in.
"The subject's new identity is to be awoken any day now. I will escort you to the new room you both will be staying in."
..
The room was certainly smaller than the previous room. Instead of lightbulbs decorating the walls and floors, all there was to light up the room was a tiny old light bulb that she couldn't turn on and the light from the hallway when they bothered to open the door. The room was made of cold concrete with a poorly maintained bed with a decent quality mattress settled on top of it.
' 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘵 ' She thought before settling in front of the bed in the same position she had when she first met Hajime. She switched on her Game Girl Advance and decided to switch up games while she waited.
She plugged in the latest Pokémon game they had given her before starting a new run. The only noises in that room for the next few days had been her game console and the sounds of tiny Pokémon roars.
--
The next time the door had opened had to have been a week later. She lifted her head up since she hadn't been doing anything major in her game to pay attention too.
She was surprised to see a boy the same height as Hajime standing next to the same scientist that she had continuously seen come to take Hajime away.
The boy had glowing red eyes and long black hair, also wearing a reserve course uniform. The two stared at each other before the boy walked further into the room
The door had closed after he made it to the middle of the room before continuing to come closer.
Chiaki Nanami put down her game console and stood up to face the boy. It was Hajime, it obviously was. As the boy walked his hair swayed back and forth, occasionally moving out of the way for her superhuman (obviously superhuman, she was a robot after all) sight to catch a glimpse of.
She knew she shouldn't bring up any hint of his past life, even if she had only known him during the project. When the boy was a mere few feet away from her, she extended her hand towards him with a gentle smile. "Hello. I'm Chiaki Nanami, it's nice to meet you."