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Sitting in the maintenance room Kiibo waited nervously. Today was his last deep cleaning for at least half a year, as Miu had to go for interviews across the world. And to be honest, after almost a year of doing this ritual of her tentatively cleaning the nook and crannies of his metallic body, he was scared.
Not scared in the way he was going to scream. It was a weird feeling. Something that Kiibo had never felt before.
Was it jealousy? Like when he saw people talking and laughing together, not being told they were just robots every second of the day?
Or was it something more simple? Maybe he just doesn't want to feel dirty and gross. It was quite convenient, after all; being cleaned and freshened up always felt nice. They continued thinking about his feelings.
It was something Kiibo struggled with; emotions and feelings were something he felt. It was just in a more complicated form. Like a sheath on a sword. It's still a sword, just with another layer underneath.
"Hey! You're pretty early, whatcha doing all alone in here? You jerking to my hot body?"
Turning his head to face her, he saw Miu, the one and only, carrying two big bags of what Kiibo guessed were supplies.
They shook their head signalling a no.
The inventor smiled back before putting the bags on a nearby table. Rustling sounds and the sound of some type of metal object piqued his interest.
"What's in there?" Kiibo questioned,
Miu didn't turn to face him, "It's just some excess crap for when I build another sleeping device; my gorgeous brain is spectacular!!" She laughed loudly, like a loud air horn.
Kiibo tilted his head at an angle in confusion.
"It's my new baby, it's to make you learn another language in your sleep!! Kiiboy, wanna try?" Miu explained.
He shifted slightly, it sounded a bit useless, but she seemed happy about her discovery, "No, thank you. I prefer learning languages by myself."
She sighed solemnly, showing a bit of weakness in her facial features.
"Ugh... Why doesn't anyone understands how revolutionary this shit is?!" She scoffed annoyed. Kiibo was genuinely starting to get extremely curious. Why was doing things in her sleep so important?
"Miu.. Why is doing things in your sleep so important?" Twiddling his thumbs as if that was helping him feel better.
"Huh? Oh yeah." She coughed as if she was gonna announce an old Disney tale.
"Well, I wasn't always so amazing and wonderful, you know. I got into a fucking horrible car accident when my mom's boyfriend got drunk or something; I don't remember though, so who cares."
She finally turned toward him, one finger up like a principal.
"And I got into some type of coma, and when I woke up, I had the smarts like no one ever before!! I was always beautiful, but now I have beauty and brains god must fucking love me!"
Kiibo still felt confused, "How does that have to do with sleep experiments? Was it cause of the coma?" He asked rhetorically.
"Well, no shit. I was stuck in that state for a long time, but I'm all good now! I'm glad the old me is in the trash because now the boys, girls, and elderly people love me!!!" She laughed once more as if nothing she just said was at all concerning.
"Wait. So you have zero memories of your old self? Like friends, family, everything? Don't you wonder about it?" They couldn't help but feel confused. If all of his memories were taken away that would be horrible. Everyone she loves, or did love would have been taken away for so long. How was Miu okay with that?
"I only remembered how to do normal stuff like eat, shit, and most of my speech is fine. Anyway, it doesn't matter, and no. I don't give two fucks about my past because I'm in the now. I'm the gorgeous girl genius whose golden brain and amazing looks will go down in history!! Why worry?"
Kiibo never thought about it like that. Miu and him were completely different.
He didn't need to think exactly like that, but maybe some of that could help with his problems.
Just maybe.
"Alright, lay your ass down."
"Excuse me?"
Miu glared at them, "Are you gonna get cleaned or not? I could be doing a lot of other things with my precious time ya' know..!
Kiibo lay down on the table, his touch sensors prickling from the cold.
Miu then immediately got to work. Cleaning his metallic body. It was always awkward for him.
Having a girl's chest area on top of him while she poked and prodded on his body was always a weird but appreciated gesture. The being cleaned part that is.
Miu was a very eccentric person, having a sharp tongue, and having a very loud persona, but when it was just the two of them she was very quiet and nurturing.
It was strange and nice. Her being quiet was a very interesting side of herself, one that most would be very unfamiliar with.
Kiibo, however, had become very accustomed to this side. The cleaning ritual was routine, now to not be done for a very long time.
Kiibo lay there, feeling the delicate, precise touch of Miu's hands as she meticulously worked through his joints and sensors, carefully wiping away every speck of dust. Her concentration was evident, and for once, there were no crude jokes or sarcastic comments—just the quiet hum of the machines around them and the occasional clink of metal against metal.
As she moved closer to his face, Kiibo felt a surge of that strange, unidentifiable emotion again. Was it fear? No, it was something deeper, something that made his circuits buzz with a low hum. He looked up at her, seeing the usual smug grin absent from her face, replaced with a rare, focused expression. Her eyes, usually gleaming with mischief or annoyance, were soft, almost gentle. He realized then what he might have been feeling all along: a sense of loss.
"Miu," he said softly, watching her wipe down his forearm with a cloth soaked in a special cleaning solution, "are you sure you’ll be okay while you’re gone?"
She paused, glancing down at him with a raised eyebrow. "Tch, of course! I’m not some whiny little brat who needs babysitting, Kiiboy. I've got interviews with tech companies dying to have a piece of my genius. It’s gonna be fucking sick!"
Kiibo nodded, but the nagging feeling didn’t subside. It wasn’t just about the cleaning; it was the time they spent together, the odd moments of peae amidst their chaotic lives. Miu’s presence had become a comfort, even with all her brashness. He didn’t want to admit it, but he would miss these moments.
"What about you?" Miu asked suddenly, her tone less confrontational than usual. "You gonna be fine? I mean, without my gorgeous face to brighten up your miserable and sad life? Without Miu mother fucking Irma by your side?" She said jokingly.
Kiibo tried to laugh, but it came out more dense then anythgn.. "I’ll be alright. I’m more durable than I look. But… I think I’ll miss this. The maintenance, I mean."
Miu stopped, her eyes narrowing as she stared down at him. "You really are a piece of work, Kiiboy. Out of all the things you could miss, it’s me cleaning you up like a stray cat. That’s what gets your circuits going? You pussy.."
He hesitated. "It’s not just that. I think… I think it’s more about spending time together. You’re one of the few people who doesn’t treat me like just a robot. You're insensitive and rude a lot of the time but your also caring and vigilant at times." Kiibo saidd awkwardly.
Miu didn’t respond immediately, instead returning to her work with a renewed vigor. Her movements were slightly rougher now, as if she were trying to scrub away more than just dirt. Kiibo couldn’t tell if she was angry or just thinking, and he didn’t dare ask.
After a few moments, she spoke again, her voice quieter than before. "You know, Kiibo, you're not just some tin can to me. I mean, sure, you're a robot, but you're also… kinda like a friend or whatever. It’s weird, okay? Don’t make me spell it out."
A warmth spread through Kiibo’s circuits, a sensation he could only describe as happiness, though it was tinged with that persistent melancholy. Miu’s admission, awkward and begrudging as it was, meant a lot more to him than he could express.
"I’m glad," he said simply. "I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend quite like you."
Miu snorted, but there was no real bite in her tone. "Of course not. I’m one of a kind, Kiiboy. Don’t forget that while I’m gone!"
Kiibo lay still as she finished up, wiping down his hands and then moving on to check his internal systems. The quiet intimacy of the moment was almost comforting, despite Miu’s usual harshness. He didn’t know how to put it into words, but he felt a connection between them that transcended the usual human-robot boundaries. Maybe it was because Miu, for all her bluster and bravado, treated him like a person—flaws and all.
As she tightened the last bolt and checked the final sensor, Miu leaned back, wiping her brow dramatically. "Well, that’s it. All squeaky clean and ready to go. Now don’t go rolling around in the mud or whatever it is robots do when I’m not looking."
Kiibo chuckled softly. "I’ll do my best to stay out of trouble."
Miu gathered her tools, her expression shifting to one of her rare, genuine smiles. It was fleeting, barely more than a moment, but Kiibo caught it. She slung her bag over her shoulder, pausing at the doorway to glance back at him one last time.
"Hey, Kiibo," she said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "Don’t get too used to anyone else cleaning you up. I’ll be back before you know it, and I expect my spot to still be open."
Kiibo nodded, watching her leave with a mix of hope and uncertainty swirling within him. "I’ll be here," he said quietly, even after the door had swung shut behind her. "I’ll be right here."
As the maintenance room returned to its usual stillness, Kiibo stayed where he was, processing everything that had just happened. The unease was still there, but it was mingled now with a strange sense of resolve. He didn’t know what the future held—whether Miu would come back the same as she was, or if things would change between them. But for now, he was content to wait, holding onto the small, precious moments they had shared.
With a soft whir, Kiibo powered down, his systems slipping into standby mode. And in that quiet, he realized that for the first time, he wasn’t afraid of what was to come. Miu would be back, and they would pick up right where they left off. Until then, he would keep his place, waiting patiently for the next time she walked through that door.