An angel and a robot walk into a store... (INVITE)

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Blue eyes scanned the shelves as the android made his way down the isle with a slow, casual gait, one step followed by another a few seconds later. His index finger trailed along and rocked the tops of the empty game cases, tilting them forward so he could peek behind to see if there were any other different boxes hidden behind the ones in the front. ’Serpent Master EX’, ‘Requiem: Last Son 2’, ‘Ultra Smash Crew’, ‘MarsCraft 3’—so many news games that he wasn’t particularly interested in.

With a sigh, Saizomaru stepped out from the isle and made his way to the counter, a hand in his pocket to pull out his card holder. ”I’ll take sixty days of World of Dragon Quest game time,” he told the clerk behind the counter.

”Sure thing,” the man said as he adjusted his quare-rimmed glasses. He gave a half-turn to the racks on the back wall, unhooking a plastic card with a scratch-off section along the bottom. ”I take it the guild is still going well?”

”Dunno. Not been on for a hot minute. Just hoping my ranking hasn’t dropped.”

Before the conversation could continue, the whooshing sound of shifting doors took both of their attentions. Saizomaru glanced over his shoulder, watching as a young-looking girl made their way into the store. She seemed completely excited about the relatively small game store. It made the android smirk a little. ”You’d think she’s never seen a game store before.”

”Eh, probably a new gamer.” Her crying out the Mega Wreck Siblings proved otherwise. ”’Kay, maybe not.”

”Well, no point in thinking about it,” the android said as he tapped his debit card on the card scanner. He slipped the game card into his robe pocket. ”For all we know, she could be a pro Smash player.”

---

The android couldn’t but be impressed by what he was seeing. While he had little interest in any new releases of games or consoles, this girl seemed to be a fan of practically everything. He snickered a little to himself as he watched her try and fumble her way to the front of the store again, watching as her short frame tried to carry a pile almost as big as her.

I’ll give it ten seconds before she drops something.

Sure enough, she would, though it was more like she’d drop everything instead of just one or two things. Still, the android was wise enough to see this coming ahead of time. He held out a hand, catching a few of the games that had fallen off of the top of the stack.

He rolled his eyes a little at her incessant apologies. ”Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time,” he said with a smile on his face as he placed the stuff in his hand onto the counter. He reached out with both arms and took the rest of the girl’s wares off her hands and placed them with the rest of her games. ”Run this through the till, would ya, Jesse?”

As the clerk started getting the bags ready and the stuff run through the scanner, Saizomaru turned to get a good look at the clumsy one beside him. She didn’t loo much like a gamer besides the glasses and overly-purple anime-like hair. He noticed she had pointed ears though—a sure sign of konatsian heritage as far as he was knowledgeable of. It was interesting to him that aliens could also be into video games. He guessed video games really did bring different people together.

”I’m surprised you could carry all of that,” he jested as he leaned up against the counter by his elbow. ”That’s an awful lot of stuff you’re buying. You sure you’re gonna be able to carry that all home? I mean… you’ve got a car, right?”

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Saizomaru gave a little sigh followed with a smile. He gave her a gentle prod on her forehead with a finger. ”Ya don’t need to be sorry, and less so giving me thanks,” he proclaimed. He had been a soldier through all of his adult life; sorries and pleases and thank yous were not things that were mentioned on a regular basis. He was used to doing things for the sake of doing thinks out of good will and not for appreciation.

He had a thought for a moment before voicing it. ”Are you… gonna be able to carry all those bags? That’s like… four bags worth of stuff.” Saizomaru glanced over at the clerk, seeing him back one of the few consoles into one bag. He wondered if he would put all the games in a separate bag from the consoles. Yeah, he guessed about four bags, maybe five.

It was a surprise that someone would buy so much—rather, could be able to afford so much. He gave her a once over with his eyes. He couldn’t even guess what kind of job she had, though his closest guess was a student and part-time maid judging from her outfit. She looked prim, proper and professional. Still, he wouldn’t push for an answer, feeling some sense of decorum for once. ”You must have a pretty big paycheck to afford all of this in one day,” he mused. Then, he prodded her on the head again. ”Told ya to stop being sorry.”

It took a few moments, but introductions were in order. Saizomaru gave a nod, but then his eyes shifted over to the bags as the fifth one was placed on the counter.

”Eighty-Thousand Zenni.”

”… Eh?”

”Your order comes to eighty-thousand.”

The android paused, then nodded twice. ”Ah, right, yeah…” His hand, still on the counter, leaned over to the card reader and tapped his debit card on the scanner. A beep rung out, followed by the high-pitched electronic noise as the receipt began to print. ”A gift, from me to you, to commemorate our meeting. Or, y’know, something like that.”

He hummed as he shifted his body off of the counter, standing up straight. ”Name’s Saizomaru. Friends call me Sai. So… you can call me Sai from now on.”

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Saizomaru blinked. Just looking at her made him feel hungry—somehow, being an android—simply because of how thin she looked. She looked like one of those people who just go about life eating lettuce leaves and the occasional olive or two. He doubted she had any decent amount of protein to have the muscle mass to lift these bags. Still, he wasn’t about to critique her. ”Well… a’ight, if you say so.” It was about as much confidence he could give her without being patronizing.

At least Phakk’s wallet looked stronger than her arms. Considering how she looked, Saizomaru didn’t doubt that she came from a well-off family, probably some sort of upper-class aristocratic household with their own private cruise liner and summer villa in the South. ”Nah, s’fine. It’s not like I’m poor or anything to consider that bragging. I’ve got a few mil in the bank myself.” Now it felt like he was bragging.

He hummed for a moment. The girl was, once again, at it with the apologies. The android just let her go with it. It wasn’t like he was going to be able to change that part of her. That, and he found it too adorable. If her cuteness was sugar, he would have died from a sweetness overdose already.

Regardless, he waved off her compromise of repayment. ”Don’t worry about it,” he dismissed. ”Like I said—think of it as a gift. Besides, it’s not like I have much else to spend this money on. And, no, you’re not allowed to pay me back.” He didn’t need food or drink. He didn’t even need nor want a place to stay. All of that expense saved left him with nothing to worry about paying for. He had all the money in the world but nothing to use it on.

It seemed to be all too much for the girl. She began to ramble, squeezing a question into her slur of words. ”Jeez, relax. You’re about to give yourself a stroke.” He snickered before taking the bags off the counter and putting them on the ground between them to make room; not that it mattered much seeing as the two of them were the only ones in the store at the moment. ”Yeah, I like games. Sorta. More of a retro fan, myself.”

His eyes shifted around. He placed his card back into his pocket. ”Anyways, we should talk more outside. Don’t wanna hog the counter just in case anyone else comes in.” He turned away to head towards the door, then glanced over his shoulder. ”You’re strong enough to lift those, right?”

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He saw it from a mile away. He glanced at the girl struggling to lift up just one of the bags. He had no idea how she was going to get the other four home with her. He mused that he could hire her a rickshaw. Come to think about it, there was always a taxi.

Shaking his head, Saizomaru plodded back to the counter and grabbed the other four bags in one hand, handles looped around each finger before they tightened into a clenched fist. ”I think, next time, you should bring one of those luggage cases with the wheels,” he suggested with a soft chuckle. ”I’m sure you can handle just that bag. Anyways, I’ll see you around, Sam.”

”Yup. See you when you need another subscription card.”

The android gave the clerk a wave before making his way out the door. He stood by until Phakk joined him outside. From there, he would make his way across the street over to a nearby street bench at the center of the outdoor court, a three-seater with plenty of room for the girl to park herself on. Placing the bags in front of him, he would lean back and take a look about the place. Clothing stores, mini-marts, coffee shops and takeout venues lined both sides of the Highstreet.

”Gonna make a call real quick,” he said to Phakk. He placed two fingers on the side of his head as though he had an invisible earpiece on him. ”… Hey, there. Are you good to send out a cab to Central Highstreet...? Sure, a cab for a Miss Phakk, please… Cool, we’ll see you then—at the end of Bourges Boulevard…? Okay, see you soon.”

He placed his hand on the backrest and turned to the girl. ”Your taxi will be here in about five minutes. Gives us some time to talk for a bit. So, what kinda games are you into?”

---

Saizomaru blinked as he looked over to her. His eyes shifted from her, to her bags, and back to her again. ”Fly, huh? Yeah, I can imagine you hovering a few feet off the ground as your bags drag along the pavement.” he snickered at the thought. ”Don’t worry about it. Will be more convenient for you, anyways. Besides, the driver will get a nice pay-out from the service.”

It had always made Saizomaru wonder what public funding would be like if everyone could fly. Cab, bus and train services would be discontinued; the automobile industry would go bankrupt, millions of people would be out of a job. The least he could do was to put a little bit of money back into public transport.

With the money Phakk had, she could sort it all out on her own. Still, her money went to good use elsewhere by supporting the local gaming store. She was quite the gamer, so Saizomaru thought, as she recently got into her multiplayer games. ”Well… I can kinda see why. You sound like you’re lagging in real life, let alone what it’d be like over an internet connection.” He chuckled at his own humour, though he wondered if she’d find the funny side of it. He hoped so. ”Don’t worry about it too much, though. You’ll come out of your shell sooner rather than later when you get to see and meet new people. Just… y’know… be confident in yourself and don’t let people take advantage of your good nature. If they do, just kick ‘em in the dick. Unless they’re a girl. Then… slap ‘em in the face or something.”

Considering the girl liked her action and platformers, he reckoned that she would do well in a fight. It seemed as though she had a particular fondness for Baotendo titles. He wondered if she had played any of the old retro ones from thirty to forty years ago.

The same question was passed to him. ”Eh… I’m not fond of many modern games. Too many micro-transactions nowadays,” he admitted, the tip of his words spear-like at the mention of in-game, real money purchases. ”Only modern game I really play is World of Dragon Quest and that’s only ‘cause I have a decent guild to play with. That, and I gotta keep up being world first-ranked ninja. Other than that… retro games, mostly. Golden Sword, Streets of Hate, the better-than-3D-titles Flash the Porcupine games, those kinda things.”

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The android couldn’t help but let out a belly laugh at Phakk’s forceful insistence that she could do better than just a few feet off the ground. ”Okay, okay. Several feet off the ground.” Teasing the poor girl was pretty fun for the android. He wondered that, if he pushed hard enough, he could get her to do that thing where she’d puff out her cheeks. Either way, she was taking it in good stride. Good humour was a valuable trait.

The humour and smiles and giggles had turned quickly into tension and anxiety. As the girl explained her predicament and situation, Saizomaru listened with utmost attention. He remained silent the whole way through. For some part he understood how she felt.

”Yeah. Yeah, I get it,” he admitted. Both hands were brought together in his lap, with one set of fingers wrapped around the opposite wrist, a couple of them fidgeting with the armband. ”Kinda in a similar situation myself. I was human, once, until something happened while I was on duty. Then, I became this—“

The gripping hand pulled away, taking the other hand with it, detaching it from the wrist. From where Phakk sat beside him, she would be able to see the inside of the wrist of the detached hand. The entirety of the inside was made of forged steel, from the chassis to the rods that acted as the bones. Around the parts were thing, black wires and microchips.

”When I became an android, I was lost for a long while,” he continued. He turned the hand in his grip, looking about it, examining it absently. ”It took a few years before I was ready to face people—to face reality—again. But… seeing people like you makes it all worthwhile.” He gave a smile, then used his removed hand to pat her on the head. ”So, in my belief, you’ll grow more and more confident the more and more good people you meet, just like I have.”

He gave a small hum. It felt as though he was gaining more confidence about himself the more he could talk about his own troubles. It had never occurred to him until now that everyone he had met always thought he was a human in the first place. It had been his own confirmation bias that held him back.

Quickly he reattached his hand, giving the fingers a flex. He turned to Phakk when she admitted she didn’t know what one of the games was. ”Oh. World of Dragon Quest is the number one online role-playing game. Basically, you pick a race, a class, level up to the cap, then do endgame content like twenty-man raids to get the best gear. Think of it like a Final Destiny game but you get to play with loads different people at the same time.”