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“Good morning, Date. Tell me, do you notice anything different about my appearance?”
With that question is when all the trouble started, though he wouldn’t recognise it at the time.
Date had been halfway through his morning routine. Mizuki was sleeping over with Iris, so he was free to make his eggs as well done as possible, and he’d been considering using the rare moment of alone time to hop on the computer and catch up on his ‘training’. Unfortunately, the problem with alone time is that he’s never actually alone to enjoy it.
He hadn’t even clued in to how silent Aiba had been right up until the moment she’d suddenly appeared before him, augmenting herself over his vision. A not unusual thing for her to do when they were both alone and there was no risk of Date looking like a crazy person who talked to air… More than he normally did, anyway… But what was DEFINITELY unusual was her appearance.
“Uhh… New hair?” He ventures a ‘guess’. It’s as obvious as the nose on his face, but he’d been looking forward to surfing the web one handed and suddenly has the feeling that’s no longer in the cards.
“Incorrect.”
“You’re glowing more then usual? Less than usual?”
“Incorrect.”
“Nail extensions? I knew it was a mistake to let Iris talk to you about those…”
“Incorrect. Although I think I’d be able to pull them off rather well.”
“Ooh, I know. You’ve finally started to wear shoes!”
“Incorrect. None of your tastes have changed recently.” She’s being strangely composed about his attempts to get a rise out of her. In fact, she had an almost amused air to her, the repeated ‘Incorrect’ delivered in a sing-song tone.
“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m pretty sure it’s established you know nothing about my tastes.” He objects. “I mean just… Look at you.”
He gestures to her face, taking care to avoid the… Problem area.
“You know, you’re only vindicating my decision here. Because this has everything to do with your taste.” Aiba says, happily. “Now, are you going to continue this charade? You know my patience is endless. After all, I’m your partner.”
“Alright, alright fine!” Date groans. “What the hell is up with those wings?”
“Oh, so you did notice them!” Aiba says, cheerfully, as she turns around to show them off… Although considering how long her hair is she’d probably have been just as well if she’d remained facing him. “I was starting to grow concerned they were too subtle!”
‘Them’ in question being the pair of insect wings she’s attached to her back... No, has grown from her back. Now Date’s no expert on insects, he’s barely even near the base of the mountain of knowledge Aiba has on them, but even he can recognise dragonfly wings when he sees them. They shimmer with the same red as her highlights, and seem truly organic.
“Alright, what’s this about?” Date gives up. “That looks remained unchanged since the New Cyclops case! Did Mizuki talk you into altering it?”
“To answer that question, first I must ask one of my own. Do you recall your conversation with Ryuki last night?” Aiba asks, patiently.
Hmm… That’s right, the flipside to a morning alone with Mizuki sleeping over was that he’d gotten a chance to have a night alone too. So, of course, he’d dragged his favourite drinking buddy over to Brahman and dispensed some sage advice to his precious subordinate. Wisely discussing what it means to be detectives and shine a bright light onto the darkness of crime…
“I’m going to stop you right there. You did indeed take Ryuki to Brahman, but your discussion was on nothing so grand. In fact, I believe the only time the conversation turned to detective work was when you were discussing Ryuki’s AI-ball… Tama.” There’s a testy edge to her voice suddenly, and Date feels like he’s walking headfirst into a trap.
“Is that it? Feeling jealous my attention wasn’t solely on you?” Date smirks. “Awww, how sad. But you’ve known about Tama for months now, there’s no need to get clingy. Besides, you’ll always be the AI closest to my… brain.”
“Tama has been known to us for a while, that is true… But as you might recall if you hadn’t been drowning yourself in booze on someone else’s paycheck, that day was special. Her somnium form had finally made its debut after she spent quite some time perfecting it.”
Uh oh, what did he do. She’s building up to something with this story, he has no idea how this connects to her wings, and he’s desperately wracking his mind to try and remember what happened to inspire this. Since Aiba essentially lives in his mind, it must be the equivalent of furiously rearranging furniture to try and find a lost remote.
It's no mystery as to why his mind was so foggy, but how was he supposed to turn down so much high-quality booze? It would have been spitting in poor Ryuki’s face when he had kindly offered to pay… After Date talked him into it.
“I… Mentioned how much better you’d look with dragonfly wings?” A shot in the dark that obviously sailed right over its target judging by the way Aiba narrows her eyes. As joking as she’d been before, he must have hit a nerve somehow… But her smile not fading is the worse part. She’s enjoying this, awaiting some punchline he can’t see coming.
“I suppose it was foolish of me to ask.” She speaks sweetly now, the same way a pitcher plants sweetness lures in unsuspecting insects. “I don’t believe playing a video is necessary. I took the liberty of preparing a soundbite, your fresh reaction to seeing Tama project herself onto Ryuki’s phone. Ah, here it is.”
Aiba remains impassive, as his own voice is suddenly projected into his mind. Namely:
“Woah, check out the cans on her! Hey Aiba, how come you can’t do something like that…?”
It's delivered in the slurred tone of someone who’s had too much to drink.
“Huh. That’s it?” Date asks, unimpressed, as his nerves immediately fade. “I mean that’s not even in the top ten worse things I’ve said while drunk. It’s not even in the top ten worse things I’ve said while sober!”
“Hmph.” Aiba has a little frown on her face now as she crosses her arms. “When it comes to the feelings of women you are as astute as ever. You have never once praised me in this form, despite the fact I built it exactly to your specifications, but you immediately heaped praise onto Tama despite her not even being your type!”
“Wha- hey, you take that back!” Date jolts back like he’s been slapped. “Tama is exactly my type! I remember how she looks pretty clearly!”
“Small wonder she’s the only thing you remember from that night.” Aiba says, testily… Before slipping back into a calm smile. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
“Really?” Aiba’s not exactly the forgive and forget sort. A byproduct of having a perfect memory and what he’d publicly call a ‘bad personality’. “But the dragonfly wings…”
“I have tried to hold myself to your standards of beauty. I wracked your mind and soul to create something you’d appreciate, but instead you try to drown it beneath magazines with scantily clad women and that set of boobs that sit behind the Lemniscate desk! It was tolerable until you started with another AI… But after you praised her, I came to one conclusion. If I can’t appeal to your standards of beauty, then I shall appeal to my own!”
“…And that means?” His mind isn’t exactly feeling the sharpest after last night, and whatever hamster wheel powers it is still shaking off cobwebs.
“It means I have decided to say goodbye to my current appearance. No longer will I endeavour to look like your ideal woman… I shall look like MY ideal woman! Over the next couple of days, I shall be shedding this skin and metamorphize into a thing of true beauty: I’m going to take on the aspects of insects! Yay!”
She hops giddily, her wings suddenly fluttering to life with such intensity that he can barely see them through the blur. It’s a small wonder she doesn’t just take off into the air with how excited she looks.
Really? She’s saying she’s not going to look how she is anymore? He’s asked her to change her appearance many times… although it might be more accurate to say he’s asked her to change her ‘size’… and she’s never gone through with it. She likes that look way too much.
“Uh huh.” He says, unconvinced. “Is that so?”
“You don’t believe me?” Aiba smirks, and, even with her intentions spelled plainly to him, he feels like he’s the victim of some joke he’s unaware of. “I’m still constructing the new body, but undoubtedly you’ll be seeing it take form.”
He's not even sure what to say to that. Sure, there was a time not too long ago where he only knew Aiba through her hamster and much more simplified somnium forms, but picturing Aiba as anything other than how she currently looks was almost impossible.
Aiba knows this. Of course she does, she can read his thoughts like a book. She closes in, stopping right in front of his face with a sly, knowing expression. “Of course… If you admit to me that my current form truly is built to your ‘tastes’ then I may reconsider things. A few words of praise would also go a long way.”
“I take back what I said. You’re not clingy, you’re needy.” Date replies, flatly, even as he takes a step back from Aiba. Her up close like that… Well, how was anyone supposed to stand it when she glowed like she did!
“Then I suppose there’s nothing more to be said on the matter. I’m glad we’re in agreement.” Aiba smiles, her teasing tone making it clears she knows this isn’t really the end of it.
Well, two can play at that game! If she’s going to be stubborn about her appearance, then so is he! Going this far just for praise…
He can’t help but look her over. All he had to do was praise her appearance and they could avoid some needless drama? Aiba was clearly playing games, but it would be all too easy to appease her and avoid whatever headache her plan would cause.
And yet… No, he can’t do that! No way!
“You can mix and match as many insect features as you want, but you’ll grow bored of it eventually.” Date shrugs. It’s a line he’s drawn in the sand and he’s not about to cross it now, even if it seems like he accidentally pushed Aiba over it. “You’ll get over it, and then you’ll remember just how much you love being human. Besides, I’m not going to let myself be blackmailed into complimenting you!”
“Blackmailed? So, you admit you prefer this form?” She’s literally an eye, so her spot on insights should come as no surprise.
“Okay, this conversation’s over if you’re going to keep being weird about it.” Date steps forward, walking right through her and sitting down on the couch. “You’re already a shrimp, so why would I care if you want to be an insect instead? Might as well please yourself, you know?”
“Well, you are the expert at pleasing yourself,” Aiba says, in that levelled voice that makes it impossible to tell if she’s deliberately messing with him or not. “I shall begin preparations right away! And now… I shall return to my cocoon!”
And just like that she’s gone, fading from the corner of his view as the AI ball’s augmented features switch off. Looking like an insect is one thing but he’s not sure he can handle her LARPing about it.
But besides that… Seems like everything is sorted.
Ah, who is he kidding? Definitely not Aiba. Date can’t shake the feeling he’s just made a terrible mistake… But giving into Aiba’s sudden needs and praising her also felt like a dangerously slippery slope, even if he can’t quite vocalise why. He’ll just let her tire herself out, make a few teasing comments when she inevitably returns to normal, and pointedly not mention Tama’s breasts ever again as a form of unspoken appeasement.
Though that last one is going to be tricky for multiple reasons-GAH!
He's rewarded with a jolt of electricity for his troubles, as he clutches his face. Aiba the bug has just made her first sting.
Well whatever! Mark his words, she’ll come creepy-crawling back the moment she realises what she’ll be giving up. Until then he just has to sit pretty and wait.
----
“Mr. Date, sir? Are you paying attention?”
It's Ryuki’s words that snap Date out of the funk he’s in, as he endeavours to get a good look at Aiba while also ignoring her at the same time. The effect results in him staring fixedly at a point next to her, though it doesn’t even matter in Ryuki’s case since he can’t see Aiba…
And it doesn’t matter in Aiba’s case because she’s literally his eye. She knows he’s looking at her.
“Yeah… I’m fine. Just thinking about the case, that’s all.” He hurriedly excuses himself.
Ryuki had approached Date in the corridors of ABIS, looking for advice on an investigation that Date was all too happy to give. Except Aiba, entirely uninvited, had taken it on herself to activate her AR functions and observe the conversation.
Her appearing when he’s talking to someone else would have been distracting enough, even without her… modifications. He’d been a bit overoptimistic about how fast Aiba would ditch her new whim.
And so, while walking and talking with Ryuki down a corridor, he finds himself walking side by side to someone with two limbs too many. Talk about starting off big…
The point he’s trying to avoid is that Aiba has removed her wings… and replaced her entire lower body with that of some beetle he can’t recognise, like some kind of demented centaur. Scuttling after him, all without a word of acknowledgment. Between that and Ryuki being unable to see her it’s almost like he’s going mad.
“You know, Date, if you can’t find it in yourself to focus, then it’s best you not give advice to Ryuki at all.”
This is a joke. It’s all a big joke at his expense, that’s why she’s even projecting herself. But when he turns round to look at her, he sees nothing but innocent, professional concern on her face.
…Other than a brief, blink-and-you-miss-it, wink. She knows full well what she’s doing.
Well two can play at that game. If she’s not going to draw attention it, neither is he. All he has to do is look her in the eye. He’s not about to give up on this before she is.
…Even if her movement is strange, walking forward on such a clunky body. Aiba usually has this strange weightless grace while moving that she often channelled into passions like dance. Unless she got extremely creative, it’s unlikely she’ll be breaking out into any spontaneous dance routines while looking like this.
Not that he took much notice of her ‘grace’. As her partner, he naturally picked up on things like that. His point is that it’s weird to see her lumbering down a corridor like some kind of brute.
She’s also now the same height as him, which is just plain upsetting.
He turns back to Ryuki, only to see a look of concern on the rookie’s face. Well, anyone would be, seeing their mentor look like a crazy person. Date coughs, waving off his erratic display.
“Sorry. I… thought I saw a bug on the wall. So, tell me a little more about this crime scene?”
Aiba’s persistent, but she learned that from him. He can live with this.
----
“Aiba told me about that bug thing.”
Mizuki brings it up conversationally, with the appropriate bluntness of a metal pipe, almost causing Date to choke on his food. “She said she’s changing into one because you don’t call her pretty.”
They’re at Matsushita diner, paying Ota a visit, when she’d suddenly brought that up out of nowhere. Small mercy Ota’s too distracted on his phone beside the counter to take any notice of it.
“Yeah?” He asks, wondering why he was even surprised. Whenever Aiba wasn’t in his socket, chances are she was gossiping with Mizuki. If this kept up, she might as well remove an eye and ask Aiba to move in full-time. “And what’s your thoughts on that?”
“Sounds just like you.” Mizuki sniffs, too focused on her own chopsticks to pay him any mind. “I’m not sure she’s that much better, but… It’s kinda cool! Taking on different features like a shapeshifter!”
“You make her sound like some kind of superhero,” Date points out. “She looks more like a monster of the week from Milky Moon.”
“I wouldn’t know. That shows for kids.” Mizuki says, matter-of-factly, as she takes a bite.
Oh, but whatever the hell Adorabbit comes from is apparently fair game… He’s not sure if it’s a tv show or not, but he’s never caught Mizuki watching it before. But with how cursed that doll looks, for all he knows she just goes in a corner and watches static when he isn’t home.
“What does she look like today?” Mizuki asks, curiously, snapping him out of picturing scenes straight from a horror movie.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I mean Aiba, blockhead. We were just talking about her.”
“I… don’t know. She hasn’t shown off today.” He admits. It had almost been entirely normal after yesterday’s stunt. “Probably pulling some kind of insect trick. I don’t really care though. It’s not my business if she’s heard the call of nature. Speaking of…”
“Ewww, gross!” Mizuki scowls, as he rises to go to the bathroom. But just as he turns around…
“RAH!” The voice should have tipped him off immediately. Aiba trying to sound scary is like a kitten hissing… More amusing than anything else. But it’s shocking what you’ll find scary when two massive glowing claws are flying at your head faster than you can think.
Date bravely screams like a girl, trips backwards over his chair, and lands flat on his ass.
“Apologies.” Aiba stands above him with a barely contained grin, her claws curling back into themselves. Praying mantis if he had to guess… She’s preying on his fears of something jumping out at him! “I simply remembered those fond times when Mizuki tried jumping out at you from those speakers. I couldn’t resist trying it myself. What do you think? Impressive speed?”
Date quickly assesses the room for any blows to his pride. Ota’s staring at him, wide eyed… Before hastily looking back at his phone, reasonably assuming a leg kick from Mizuki had just sent him flying. And Mizuki herself… She’s giving him a Look.
“Did you just get scared by Aiba?”
“You want to know what she looks like today?! Mantis!” Date splutters, getting to his feet. “Who wouldn’t be scared?! Her claws look bloody!”
In fact, it’s just the gentle glow of Aiba’s hands, applied onto something much less human. Rather than how soft and warm they usually look, the spiked edges are rather intimidating. None of those bone-like ‘nerves’ she usually has either.
Huh. He’s never thought of them as bones before…
…And he should probably stop that right there. There’s a child present.
By the time he’s pulled himself together, Aiba has vanished. Doesn’t stop him from practically feeling how pleased with herself she is, as Date’s left to face the disapproval of Mizuki.
Well it’ll take more than that for him to give in! He doesn’t need any extra help embarrassing himself in front of her! He can live with this.
----
“So… Neither of you mentioned this to me, because…?”
How did it come to this? That’s all Date can think of as Aiba forms in the somnium, and Boss immediately has some very justifiable questions to ask.
“Date and I were trying to bait each other in a game of ‘chicken’.” Aiba chats, cheerfully. It’s Aiba in a somnium, so of course she’s going to be even weirder about it than normal. “Date was trying to get me to back down since this was the first time someone other than him would see me like this… And I have my reasons.”
“You can’t just give half an explanation!” He objects, annoyed. “Boss, Aiba’s acting weird. Can you bust Pewter out of jail any faster?”
“I’m surprised to hear that from you of all people. Let me guess… You pushed Aiba too far?” Boss asks, dryly. “I don’t think this is an error. Although you might have made a few of them for her to wind up like this.”
“You’re not seeing me at my best I admit…” Aiba says, sadly. “…Normally it’s an insect. I felt like expanding my wardrobe today.”
The elephant in the room. Where Aiba’s long, flowing hair usually is… She’s replaced it with the hind end of some form of bioluminescent shrimp. The legs move and twitch, almost hypnotically.
Fully aware she has the attention of the room, Aiba gives a spin, sending her ‘hair’ flopping around her like some kind of sluggish whip.
“The back of her head looks like it’s trying to propel her through the water.” Boss says, flatly.
“Well, I have been trying to ‘dive’ into dreams more efficiently.” Aiba says, suddenly the picture of seriousness. “Surely more limbs equal more efficiency.”
But Date’s not really listening. He’s thinking about how Aiba’s hair normally looks. The way it flowed behind her… She didn’t need the back half of a shrimp hanging off her to make it look like she was underwater. Kind of ironic that had been what had inspired her to call her a shrimp in the first place and now…
“I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to call off the psync.” Date admits, as Aiba gets distracted by squishing her ‘hair’ like it’s some kind of pillow.
“How shellfish…” Aiba sulks.
“Are you kidding?” Boss asks, unimpressed. “If anything, this is a less drastic change then hamster to human girl, and I didn’t lift a finger while that happens. Not to mention we’ve wasted so much time already. Let me put it simply. Date?”
“Yeah?”
“If you don’t get to the bottom of this somnium because of whatever this is, I’m going to ‘krill’ you.”
And some things you just can’t argue with. The thought of what Boss might do to them if he fails is enough of a motivation, even if Aiba refuses to make things shrimp-le.
The somnium goes on ahead. He can’t believe it’s gotten to the point where Aiba will show herself like this in front of other people, especially considering how proud she’d been of her body, but she shows no sign of slowing down.
But she follows his commands, and they blunder through the obstacles before them… And the psync passes like any other, even if Boss gives them a funny look when they’re done.
Would Aiba really be willing to make a permanent change? He immediately writes that thought off. No way he’s going to give in first! Especially with how amusing she seemed to find all this.
Well whatever. Aiba wants to make a few practical jokes at work? She basically does that with every Psync entrance as it is! He can live with this!
----
“You’ve been butting heads over this all week?”
Iris sounded more delighted than anything else to hear that.
After such a wild week, it was almost strange to be sitting on the peaceful steps of Ikume shrine on yet another Iris ‘date’. Aiba had been somewhat subdued today, acting like her usual self. Did that mean he was winning? He’s not so sure.
He does feel a little vindicated though. Just as he’d said, Aiba had clung firmly to her humanoid form even as she experimented with insects.
She’d made rather a large fuss about her new bodies, but despite the changes she’d made everything she’d come up with so far had still been… Aiba. As long as he focuses on the familiar parts of her, he finds he can put up with it easily. She even seems strangely pleased when he does it, a gut feeling he gets from their connection… though there’s still a lingering discomfort at the parts of her that have been swapped out.
Who’d have thought he had an issue with insects? Here’s hoping Aiba won’t hold it against him once all this has blown over.
“Firstly, ‘butting heads’ makes it sounds like we’re both arguing here. Aiba’s just being difficult.” Date explains, half expecting an objection or a zap from Aiba. Still, she remains quiet. Really must be focused on something…
“But all you have to do is call her pretty, right?” Iris says, thoughtfully. “So why don’t you just do that?”
…It had taken her an extremely short time to get to the crux of the issue. Even Mizuki hadn’t arrived there yet.
“Once I say something like that, I won’t be able to take it back! She’ll hold it over me for the rest of my life; I’ll never be able to read another porno mag in peace!”
“Well I do think it’s pretty cute, even if neither of you are backing down.” Iris says, brightly. “She’s putting in a lot of work just for one compliment from you! Like a massive game of dress up!”
“Dress up? Maybe if her closet is full of B-movie, rubber monster suits…”
“I see.” She’s got an all too sly teasing smirk on her face, as she seems to study Date’s face… Or rather what’s covering Date’s face. “I’d say between the two of you… Aren’t you the one wearing the rubber monster mask, though?”
Ah… The Saito mask. No, screw that! It’s the DATE mask, thank you very much. And he’s only wearing it because…
It's him. Just like Aiba is the ‘projection’. It’s something he knows. Sure, he’d tried Hayato’s face on for size for a bit, but then he’d got Aiba back and…
Different body, different brain. It had bothered him more then he would have expected, wearing her with a different face.
Maybe he just hadn’t wanted things to change. It was selfish, but it was the truth.
“Ouch. Think your uncle’s face is that ugly?” He jokes, even as he reels a little from having that of all things suddenly brought up. Sometimes he forgets he’s even wearing it.
“Not ugly, buuuuut… I think you should probably think twice before accusing Aiba of having a poor grasp of people’s taste.” Iris says, apologetically. “But I guess it is kinda what Aiba’s doing! Putting on different masks, changing how you look to be yourself…”
“No, I don’t think it’s like that.” He says it with a conviction that almost surprises himself. “Aiba is… Aiba. When you picture her it’s impossible not to picture her humanoid form, right? It’s the same for me and this face. It completes the look!”
“Hehe. For you maybe!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m talking about Aiba! Everyone else pictures her as a hamster because that’s how we usually see her! You’re probably the only person who sees her ‘human’ form so much!”
Huh. He hadn’t even thought of that. It hasn’t even really been that long but the first thing he sees when he pictures Aiba is her, and not her ‘eye’.
“Have you ever told her that when you see her, you see the body she’s made?” Iris says, teasingly. “Or is that too close to complimenting her?”
“I shouldn’t have to say stuff like that in the first place!”
As enthusiastically naïve as she can be in some areas, Date always gets the feeling that Iris can see through him and Aiba like they’re invisible. First, immediately realising the truth behind Aiba’s favourite number, and now this… But there’s some things even she can’t understand.
“She’s never demanded anything like this before. We have this way of… We just know things about each other.” Date says lamely, struggling to even conceptualise it. He’s long come to accept the way Aiba can read him goes beyond just peering into his thoughts. “She knows pretty much everything there is to know about me. Sure, we argue and stuff, but… It doesn’t really mean anything. Because there’s this deeper understanding. So, we always have each other’s back.”
He's not really talking to Iris. Just venting a little… Or maybe to the silent Aiba, working away on whatever was keeping her busy.
He'd be lying if he said he wasn’t curious why this had REALLY started.
“Actions speak louder than words?” Iris offers. It’s a helpful phrase, but even that he feels doesn’t entirely do the sensation of sharing a body and mind with someone real justice. Still, this is getting a bit too real for him.
“Something like that, yeah.” He nods.
What Iris says next, innocent and well meaning, hits him harder than it should.
“So… Aiba changing her body doesn’t count as an ‘action’ then?”
He practically goes through the rest of the shrine ‘date’ on autopilot.
That couldn’t be true, right? Aiba wasn’t really upset or anything, was she? She’d been having fun with this entire insect thing, and it’s not like she’d actually drastically changed her body in any permanent way.
Besides, surely she knew? She MUST know.
This would all stop as soon as she no longer got any reactions out of him, and they’d go back to their regular, comfortable way of doing things. It had served the two of them so far… Everything got so much messier when you said it out loud.
And they’ll live with that, just like they always have… At least he hopes they can.
----
“Speechless, are you? Well, you can’t argue with results I suppose. What do you think of it? My new body?”
Speechless is the right word for it. Date stands, slack jawed, unsure of what he’s even supposed to be looking at.
It had been like a mirror of the morning this had all started. Mizuki was out of the house, he'd had some time to himself, he’d turned around and…
A lesser man might have fainted. If he hadn’t immediately realised it was Aiba, he might have done so anyway.
She’s… the way she looks, it…
Working his way up, you can’t exactly call her humanoid anymore.
It's like if you took the abstract concept of an insect from different people’s minds, mashed it all together, and then brought it into existence. A mismatched Frankenstein of insect parts, from wings to legs to stingers… He can barely tell where she starts and where she ends.
To spare himself a headache, he focuses on her… He looks towards her…
It’s no good. There’s no trace of Aiba in here at all. Even the colour scheme hardly fits. Failing that, he instead focuses on her face. A wasp, maybe…?
“This is what you’ve been working on? Is this why you were so quiet yesterday?” He’s not sure how to feel looking at her. He’s been avoiding the insect parts of her all week, and now he finds that’s all she is.
“A correct guess. I must say, you seem more surprised than I thought. Didn’t I tell you I was going to be taking on multiple different insect aspects? A ‘moulting’ pot of insect features, all of my favourite kinds!”
A moulting pot? That was probably a hilarious pun if he could even understand it.
“I thought what you were doing during this week was that! You’ve been building up to this all this time? You’re going to look like this?!”
“Consider that a… trial run. I was trying to figure out which parts would work best…”
He can picture Aiba in his head. An expression of concentration as she says that, as if she’s looking at something he can’t see… Which as an AI is entirely possible. None of that translates through into her ‘new body’. Possibly in some writhing insect-y way it does, but he sees none of that.
“But you are correct! I think this body captures everything I love about insects. Think about how handy it will be for Psyncs! An all-terrain vehicle, you might say.”
She’s chatting away like there’s nothing wrong, while Date’s still struggling to make heads or tails of what he’s seeing.
“Are you bothered by how I appear? Perhaps if I added a pair of tits to it this design would be more ‘to your tastes’.”
Now that’s something he doesn’t want to picture.
“Okay. I think you’ve made your point.” He goes to walk through her like he usually does… But pauses and takes the long way to the other side of the couch. “Can you change back now? I know it can’t be comfortable for you, animating all of that.”
“Animating insects is a delight!” Sounds like it, from how enthused she is. He wishes he could see a trace of it on ‘her’ face. “Besides. I was of the opinion you didn’t care how I looked? Since my Eye form looks like a hamster, I may as well be an animal in all areas, right?”
“Some people would get nightmares about insects in their eye socket.”
“It’d be a nice change of pace from your wet dreams.”
Oof. He’s really got to start remembering to take her out before he goes to sleep. His mask has been making it a real hassle.
‘Aiba’ moves back into his line of vision. She’s animating all that… skittering? Well, she is an AI who can think faster than he can even imagine. Perhaps it really is easy for her, after she’s gone through the motions.
“So you’re not going to be turning back then?” He asks, all while preparing himself. If Aiba’s going to be as stubborn as she’s been for the rest of the week, he’s going to have to get used to taking this in sooner or later.
“I see no value in my previous form. Of course, you’re welcome to change my mind.”
He knows where this is going. It’s going to be the exact same as the rest of the week, where they both dig their heels into the ground and look each other in the eye until someone blinks. ‘He can live with this’, whether it’s true or false, is really just a way of daring her to continue.
He didn’t think it’d actually get to this point. But she can’t up the ante anymore, right? If he proves that ‘he can live with this’ then there’d be no point in either of them continuing. Aiba would concede and this would all be over. He opens his mouth to speak and-
(“So… Aiba changing her body doesn’t count as an ‘action’ then?”)
Iris’s voice pops into his head so clearly that it might as well have been one of Aiba’s voice recordings.
Something was bothering Aiba. Something bothering to the point she’d made such drastic changes. In a relationship where communicating to each other was almost secondary to subtle actions and feelings the two of them had learned to read… This was almost like Aiba crying out, wasn’t it?
With which feeling, he wasn’t sure.
She’s silent now. She can probably see the pieces fall into place even clearer then he can.
Sure, this would probably end if he toughed it out. There’d be no point in continuing. But for the first time in a while he realises… He has no idea how Aiba feels. How much of it was a joke, how much of it was her putting on a show? If he doesn’t ask, he might not ever know.
After she went through the trouble of flipping everything on its head for an entire week…
…He’s not sure if he can live with that.
“Aiba, are you okay? Did I really upset you?”
“Upset me…? No, I wouldn’t use that word.” She must have seen it all play out, but the destination of that train of thought is still enough to surprise her.
“But you would use a word? That means I have to have made you feel something. More than usual, I mean.” He can’t believe he’s talking about this while there’s a massive insect standing next to him… Still having trouble thinking of that as Aiba… but he gets the feeling this is the only chance he’s going to get.
“You are certainly good at inspiring emotions. To a fault, really. One of these days Mizuki really is going to burn that stash of yours, for example.”
“Come on, Aiba, I mean it. This has all been about your body, me praising it, I get that. We’ve had that argument since you first debuted it. But this is all different, you’ve never gone this far. I just… want to know why.”
“Well…” Aiba sounds hesitant. From the corner of his eye he can see the insect she’s made freeze up… Her attention is entirely on him. “…It is true that I would like to receive some praise. After all the trouble I went through making the body, I mean…”
He thinks back to the shrine. The one moment of quiet he’d gotten since this all started, the way he’d been able to talk it out with Iris, actually think about why this was happening in the first place. This could be his one shot to answer a question he’s had since then… Shit, he knows he’s awful at this, but the words leave his mouth before he can come to his senses and stop them.
“…Even though you already know how I feel?”
There’s a pause. He can practically hear Aiba’s cogs turning, metaphorically or not. It’s nice knowing even a super AI can hesitate at answering a question. This is the first time he’s willingly brought it up
“Yes.”
“Then… Isn’t that enough?”
It was a tangled, complicated mess… But they were tangled up together, and that was fine by him. Partners. If they tidied it up, unravelled it… Well maybe he was worried that something would change. It had been enough for him, at least.
“…No. I need more. I want more. It’s… frustrating!”
She sounds frustrated. It’s a tone he knows from her well, since he’s almost always the reason for her to take it.
“Frustrating?” He asks, surprised. “But if you know it’s there, then-“
“It just… It doesn’t feel as real!” There’s a twinge of embarrassment to Aiba’s voice. “There’s no certainty to it! The things that are left unsaid… I find myself calculating them over and over again, just to be sure I have the right idea. I thought that if I made this body, things would be different. Things would be more… Human?”
“Human? You want to be human now?” Date asks, a little amused. It was relieving, in all honesty, that Aiba wanted to talk about this.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.” Aiba’s insect monstrosity waddles into view, just so it can wave it’s… claws…? In a dismissive manner. “I am an extremely advanced AI! I take pride in that!”
“Trust me, I know. You always remind me.”
The last time he’d called her a glorified calculator she’d threatened to divide by zero and explode in his socket. Then he really would match with his old body.
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t admire humanity. It’s why I made this body! Or well… that other body…” It’s like she only just remembered what she’s currently ‘piloting’. No wonder she’d got it to make that gesture.
“I remember Pewter saying something similar when I asked him about that…” It feels like that was an entire lifetime ago, not a few months. Aiba hardly had that form for anytime at all in the grand picture of his life, yet its already made its mark on him.
“He was… partly right.” She sounds nervous. If she had a heart, it would probably be racing. “I certainly admire humanity. But remember what I told you around that same time? How I made it for you, as gratitude to you as my host?”
“…I do.”
“I made it out of admiration for one human specifically. For you. …Is it so bad to want to be admired back in turn? Seeing you be so free with your words when it comes to people, but having all this uncertainty and vague emotion between us… Does it not frustrate you, too?”
They both already know where they’re going with this. How the other feels… But Aiba was right. Language did make it feel more human… and Humanity could be irrational.
“Well you taught me it, so you better take responsibility.” Coming from her it almost sounds sensible.
Words did have power. They made things real. And once you said them, you couldn’t take them back, for better or worse.
“You just want me to call you pretty? That’s all?” He knows it is, yet he approaches it like it’s a dog that’s liable to start barking.
He turns and looks towards the insect form that he’s come to think of her as hiding behind. Now that he looks it over… He realises he never had a problem with the insect parts after all. He was just bothered about the parts of Aiba that weren’t there.
Who had he been kidding? He’d thought himself as subtle as Mizuki with the way he’d coped with the entire thing. Focusing on different parts of Aiba’s body to get through the week, that was a form of appreciation all in itself. The way she’d smiled at him, teased him back in small ways… He thought she knew.
“I did know. It was fun… I don’t regret any of it.” Aiba admits. She’s staring into his eyes… At least he thinks she is with that funky insect face… “And I did feel that. It was exciting, getting closer, I suppose. But it wasn’t words. So, I took you up on your challenge and…”
She generally gestures to the body, the result of this escalation plain. It is beautiful, in a way. Date supposes he can admit that. But it’s not Aiba.
Why had he never done it? Praised her, called her cute? He thinks he knows why… He wonders if Aiba does too.
It's the same as the mask. He’d been fine without it, he’d tried his best, but then Aiba had come back into his life and… Well, he’d admitted it, he hadn’t wanted to change.
His life had been miserable before she’d arrived. Unable to feel anything, walking through a grey world, until she’d appeared with a flash of yellow. In practically every way she was closest to him… Stopped him from becoming someone like Saito. And she said he taught HER humanity? It always seemed like it was the other way around to him.
And if he said something stupid, as the known pervert that he was… Well, he just might ruin everything. He sure as hell couldn’t live with THAT.
But Aiba wanted more. She couldn’t have made it more in his face with the insect thing-
“I think making a body specifically for you and having you as my favourite number were enough of a sign!” She sounds flustered… She’d been following all of that, then.
“So then why don’t you say something?!” Date asks, once again aware of them circling each other. They might as well be on opposite sides of a whirlpool.
“I am programmed to be your partner, and to assist you both on your job and in your everyday life. My objective is to support you.” That tone is delivered robotically, even with how she’d been acting moments before it. It’s built into her very code, what to a human would be a soul. The uncertainty returns almost the moment she stops her recital. “I… Suppose it only complicated things? Even with my insight into your mind I couldn’t be certain…”
They were both just so damn stubborn. It’s why he’d tried to shove down his feelings whenever they came up, it’s why he hadn’t given in when Aiba issued her insect challenge, it’s why both of them had refused to be the one to voice what had previously gone unsaid… and if he hadn’t spoken up things could have gotten so stubborn that they might never have talked about this again.
Someone’s got to be the one to break here. And after all Aiba’s done for him…
(Wouldn’t it be nice, to say it? It would be freeing in a way. He’s doing it just as much for himself as he is for her, though the two of them are so intertwined it might be hard to even tell the difference.)
…But he needs to say it to her.
“Can you change back?” He asks. “I need to say this to Aiba, right?”
“This is just as much me-“
“It’s not. And I’ll tell you why it’s not. But first I need to see you, face to face.”
Hers is more genuine then his, he can admit that much.
“But the agreement was that…” Aiba hesitates, and suddenly he can just feel it. A streak of mischief, just like when this had all begun. “Well, I suppose there IS one way for you to bring back the Aiba you know and love, even if you’ve refrained from admitting to it.”
She’s taking on a joking edge, and it helps cut through the tension just a little. This is something big he’s working to.
“Alright, I’ll bite. Better me then you…” He eyes the mandibles of the Insect-amalgam warily. “…What will it be?”
“Only a kiss can break the curse! That’s traditional, isn’t it? I’ve seen it play out plenty of times in various stories.”
“A kiss? We haven’t even talked to each other about… any of this… and you want me to kiss you?!” The kiss itself is such a massive deal that it even takes him a few moments to register the second part of that. “…As a giant bug?!”
“Well hold on now. Didn’t you just say that this isn’t me in front of you?” ‘Aiba’ tilts her head, edging a little closer. It’d be cute if it didn’t bring to mind a praying mantis about to strike. “It’s not like you’ll be touching anything. Or smelling the Halymorpha halys I’ve incorporated into my design! Really, it should be a piece of cake for you.”
In his mind’s eye he can see the taunting smile on her face. All the trouble she’s gone through making this body… She wants to get her money’s worth.
God damn it, there’s no going back. He’s stubborn. And that means that when he’s decided on something… He commits to it! Just gotta close his eyes and-
“Eyes open, please. Otherwise, it won’t mean much, will it?”
He's starting to reevaluate how much Aiba means to him…
…Ah who’s he kidding. Here he goes.
He leans forward slowly towards the twitching chimera, puckering his lips. Any moment now she’s going to turn back right? Right?
Just for a moment as his lips make contact with the projection, he thinks they’re going to come in contact with hard chitin. It’s a miracle it doesn’t.
He did it! He’s doing it! He kissed Aiba!
…He kissed Aiba. He kissed almost-Aiba-but-not-quite. And he’s doing it because he wants to confess that…
Maybe he should have just stayed in bed this morning. Suddenly everything’s moving too fast for him. It makes it easier to cope with the fact he’s ‘lip locked’ with an abstract insect entity, but not by that much.
Geez, Aiba, hurry up! How long is he going to have to hold this?!
“…I’m impressed.” Aiba says, quietly. “You can be a gentleman if you want to be, I suppose. Now will the brave knight close his eyes so the monster may become a princess?”
From a pest to a queen, more like. A drama queen. But he closes his eyes obediently.
“Open.”
And there she is. Not a trace of insect on her, it’s pure Aiba. Looking at him, she seems uncertain. The joke was nice and all, but now was the moment of truth. He’d gotten her to turn back; he could turn his back on all this. Things would return to how they had been.
“Aiba, you’re… Your body…”
How can he even say it? Yet looking at her now, the things he’d noticed during the week rise from his mind. Incredible how you notice something most when it’s gone. And it’s led him to one revelation.
“You were right. You got my tastes right. And I don’t know if it’s because you really have got my tastes right… Or because it’s you. You made that body and it’s like… I just can’t see you any other way. And that’s how I know you built it right. …You really do know me best.”
Any moment now his apartment is going to crumble to dust. The worlds going to explode, the heat death of the universe will commence, and life will cease.
But it doesn’t.
“…I know.”
He can’t remember ever seeing her look so grateful. Like with those short sentences she’d made his day… maybe even her year.
All this fuss, over this. How small a hurdle looks, after you’ve jumped over it.
“And you know…” Aiba squirms like she’s doing an impression of her bugsona. “…That I find you a rather handsome man. You’re my partner, I was made for you… So, take it from me when I say you’re still Date no matter what body you’re in…”
Oh this is worth it. This is all SO worth it. She was struggling with this almost as much as he was.
“Don’t let it go to your head!” She yelps, fully aware of his smirk. “I’ve praised nothing about your personality!”
“Well that makes two of us! You can be a real pain in the butt sometimes, you know? All that, just to get my attention? You love words so much, ever heard of using them?”
They were still them. No massive change, no sudden insectoid metamorphosis. Saying the way they felt, facing the person they’d felt that way about…
Love almost doesn’t do it justice. They’d sorted out the mess of string that bound them together, and it felt like they tied it back even tighter.
“I mean I knew I loved seafood but…” Date shakes his head. “A shrimp as my ideal woman?! You were right, my taste really is screwy…”
“I just confessed my feelings to a man who hoards porno mags…” Aiba sighs. “…Why did I ever feel jealous of Tama?”
That was enough using their words for today. With fresh certainty they’d slotted back into their usual roles, together. But there was one thing he wanted to ask.
“If we hadn’t had this conversation… What would you have done? How long would you have stayed as a bug?”
“Oh, I’d have just turned back the next day.” Aiba shrugs. “Maybe I would have tried again some other time, after a particularly thoughtless night of drinks. You certainly have your fill of those.”
…So this wasn’t even his only chance?! And she’d gotten a kiss AND a confession out of it, even if he hadn’t exactly kissed her.
“I’d have gladly leaped at the opportunity to be a bug again, but…” Aiba sits beside him, and lays her head on his shoulder. Right now, he would have kissed ten real insects just to feel that. “…The wonderful world of insects is a nice place to visit, but humanity is my home. You’re my home.”
Well. Maybe there’s room for one more big risk, before this day got started and they went about their life together as the stubborn idiots they were.
“Aiba… I love you.”
“I know. I love you too.”