Hiro looked at the door, the shining sunlight was outside... a light that would restore him. God.. he... he wasn't sure what to do. If it was just him, he would. However he was more then just a cybernetic life form... he was also the host to a digital fairy.
Over time, He had become quite... well... attached to her. The little tiger like creature, Riko was very dear to him. The way she seemed to forgive, everything...
Hiro seemed to also be the only kind of person, capable of restoring a digital fairies code to a sentient state, if it was somehow corrupted. Other people have tried to do this, but there was something special about Hiro's processing that allowed 'the spark' to be passed on again.
"So... what are you going to do?" Asked Riko. "You want to be human right?"
"... I do," said the cyborg. "... am I being vain? I just hate looking so... horrible." It had got to the point where Hiro refused to look at any mirrors. He looked at the cybernetic hand compared to his normal hand... it was creepy. Horrible.. just horrible.
Riko looked sympathetically. "I would like to be human too, I think..." she said quietly. "But I can't really remember what I looked like before. I don't really know who I was..." she sighed softly. "Being this is 'probably' better for me. I like the friends I have made in our new world."
Hiro lay down on his bed, while the diminutive Riko was on the bedside. Things were... awkward. "If I become human again, you will have to find another host."
"Nobody has been able to replicate what you can do though," said Riko. "You can turn your thoughts into actual code... that is a very special gift. You can fix digital fairies... like me. Who knows what you can do in the future."
Hiro suddenly cried. The guilt... it was too much. What he could do, what he should do... but to be stuck like this? Forever? To always have people looking at him like he was some kind of freak? Why did it have to be this way! He looked angry as the sheer emotions just took hold. "I- I can't Riko! I can't live like this... I just can't!" He got up from the bed shakily, staring at the door. God what should he do! What if he didn't turn back?
But then... also... what would Riko and the other digital fairies do without him? He liked being able to help them... but he hated feeling like he was in some was some 'second class netizen', for being a hybrid digital life form. He didn't feel like he belong in any world...
"Hiro?" asked Riko quietly. "Please... think on it a little more?"
"Because you want me to be your home server?"
"N-No! Look... space is limited, but... I do have other options. I could have left you any time I wanted! I just... like being with you." She said.
"Why do you like being with me? I have to burn my processor hot just to materialise you in the real world! Do you have any idea what its like?"
"Y-you mean I hurt you?" asked the fairy concerned. "You never said- I had no idea."
Hiro flushed a bit. "No- I mean- well- it can hurt sometimes... but that isn't what I meant." The feeling of something burning inside his head... was uncomfortable and gave him a headache... but he endured it for his digital fairy. "I'm just so.. 'substandard' compared to the androids! I can't handle it... I just... can't. I don't have anyone... even my dad doesn't really understand. He at least looks... okay. I wanted to leave to the some other world to find a cure! Now it might be outside that door..."
Riko looked sadly.
"...I wasn't even of any use to fighting the Enemy. They practically tried to use me... to hurt people. The world is better of with me not being this... I am better off..."
"...truly? But... you love interacting with the digital life and the internet... even if you are considered a second class citizen 'now', that might change in the future. People will realise your particular processing power has a use... you could become great! Please Hiro... don't judge yourself based on what others think of you. I think you are wonderful... your sister does... and I'm sure your father tries to understand you. He probably doesn't understand how you feel disfigured..."
Hiro looked angrily again. How in the world could anyone understand just what he felt? He felt so much sheer rage at the whole situation. His transformation was a joke... it didn't even help against the Enemy.. but it did help Riko, when nothing else did. But in time, they will understand the secrets of digital life... and do what the cyborg can do, without him. What use was he then?
...what should Hiro do?
