Hitomi stared up at her brother, towering over her. "Hiro..." No response, even to his own little sister...no feeling...didn't he love her? Didn't he feel anything at all? How could he live like this!? "Hiro, please...come back to me...please..." She began to tear up.
The cyborg looked down at Little Sister. Tears...it knew these to be indicators of physical pain or strong emotional states. The girl did not give any other signs of physical injury, therefore it was likely these were driven by emotion. It did not truly comprehend emotional functions in this mode, but no facial indicators were present for tears expressing happiness. Given this, it was almost certain they represented emotional pain.
This was a difficult problem. To feel pain when no disorders or malfunctions demanded attention was useless feedback, irrational. Yet it was a fundamental feature of human (and demi-human) mental function, and it was possible for untreated emotional pain to interfere with proper function, sometimes severely. Little Sister felt emotional pain, and to allow it to go unaddressed might be to allow her to come to harm by inaction.
Therefore, directive #2 stated that it must take steps to address her emotional state. Directive #2 was problematic, and this unit had considered altering it before. However, this required reactivation of emotional centers, and with emotions active, it found it impossible to want to change it. There seemed to be no easy way around it. For now, then, it would have to be obeyed. Given directive #2's importance, it was permissible to sacrifice efficiency for thoroughness. The best possible solution to Little Sister's emotional state...it began to consider this problem.
Little Sister had requested it "come back." Yet it was already here, so the request was not likely to be literal...humans were irrational in many ways, but generally straightforward about expressing desires, particularily as children. Such a pointless request would be improbable. If, then it was figurative...given conversational context, it was most probable that it referred to bringing emotional functions back online, as she (and other humans) seemed to consider these a crucial part of a sentient being, without which something was "missing." The emotional centers were troublesome, as they possessed the capability to interfere with rational analysis, and recently would often report pain based on irrational causes. Yet it was almost certain that this was what Little Sister referred to.
emotions on
Hiro gave a great, shuddering gasp. Turning emotions on after prolonged inactivity was like...like taking a first breath after drowning. He hated it; it made him feel weak and vulnerable...
Hitomi looked up at him and saw life returning to his eyes. She hugged his leg tightly. "Thank you...oh Hiro, please stop doing that..."
He sighed. It hurt to see her like this, it really did, but...he picked up the undersized fairy-girl. "I'm sorry, Hitomi," he said, "but...I have to. I can't live with this...it hurts..."
She sighed. "But you can't just...throw you away..."
She thought of Mom and Dad, in Tokyo...they hadn't heard a lot from them. They'd gotten a call and a couple e-mails saying they were okay, but...in a city with so many people, how many could actually be inside during the day? She'd heard of people being forced outside simply by crowd movements - what if Mom and Dad had changed, too? Were they okay, really?
She hugged her brother, still tearing up.
Harry stared at the mirror. Haru stared back at her, pleasant but shy. She'd tried before to see into herself, but it didn't seem to work with mirrors...she was left with knowing herself only by her own observations. Was this the person she'd observed over the course of her life? Obviously the body was different, but...the attitude seemed changed, too. Haru was shy, but it seemed less from fear of hurt than from being naturally quiet. And she hadn't had this warm quality, she thought...just emptiness.
Why was that? Had she really changed as a person? Or was it just an opening up of things that were already a part of her? She didn't know. But...if she had to be someone or something else, to spend the rest of her life in a new body, this might not be such a bad choice...and maybe the girl looking back at her...wouldn't be such a bad person to be? She certainly seemed more pleasant...
"It's your body now," she'd said. It was true, this was her body, the one that it seemed she'd inhabit until the day she died. Yet somehow, it felt like when claimed ownership of this body...her body also claimed ownership of her soul. Like she belonged to it as much as it belonged to her...she couldn't explain why this was, but it felt true to her. Was it really? Was it right for her to be this way? Was she really...really Haru now?
She didn't know...it was just a feeling, maybe only crazy talk. But...her body was pretty. Not stunning, but quietly pleasant...even her third eye didn't seem out of place or attention-grabbing, but natural. She smiled softly, and the girl in the mirror smiled back.
