SF Short Story "Mirai no Negai" (Future's Wish)

[This is a prequel to Mirai no Katachi (Shape of the Future)]

The small appliance store was located about a five-minute walk from the main street of the city, down the road leading to the 3rd-chome shopping district.

Arisudo Appliance Store.

It was a privately owned appliance store that had opened relatively recently in the neighborhood.

There was the manager, who was also the president, and one employee.

It was a shop that was run in a laid-back manner, fitting for the relaxed atmosphere of the town.

The employee, Tomoo Komiyama, also known as Filio-san, was smiling as usual today, energetically cleaning the front of the store with a broom.

The morning sun was gentle, and the breeze blowing through was pleasant and calm.

There were few people passing by on the street, and no customers had visited Arisudo Appliance Store yet.

Filio-san continued to clean in silence.

Swish, swish, swish, swish.
Tra-la-la, swish, swish, ho-i-sa-ssa.The storefront is now clean.

Next is the store's glass window.Taking a rag in hand, scrub, scrub, squeak, squeak.In the blink of an eye, it's sparkling clean!

Filio-san, who looks like a onee-san.
He has the skills of a Grade 2 Housekeeper certification holder.He won't lose to any cleaning robot.

Filio-san finished the cleaning work at the storefront.He let out a big sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the cuff of his happi coat.He pushed up his trademark black-rimmed glasses and pointed toward the storefront to perform a safety check.

"Cleaning complete, window cleaning complete!"

Next was his daily routine of practicing his sales pitch.

"Arisudo in your neighborhood. Arisudo, where kindness is our motto. Come to us for your appliance troubles. We provide attentive service. For anything related to appliances, it's Arisudo, your neighborhood store, Arisudo Appliance Store."

Filio-san managed to say the long pitch without stumbling.He finished with a small victory pose.

"Well then, shall I get started on today's work? Ah, Manjiya-san said their air conditioner broke down, didn't they? I think I'll take a catalog and head over there this afternoon."He took a memo pad out of his pocket and wrote down his schedule there.A clerk at a store that handles digital appliances is more analog than you'd think.And it was just as he finished his tasks and was about to return inside the store, that it happened.Vroom, vroom... bzzzt, vroom...Meow, nya-go, myuu...Along with the clear sound of a machine running, he heard the sound of a cat meowing."Huh? I hear a cat meowing, but also the sound of a machine running. What on earth could this be...!"Filio-san's appliance store clerk instincts kicked in, and he immediately started to take action."Kitty, where are you? I won't do anything scary, so come on out here~"

I called out to the kitten in a gentle, truly coaxing voice.

"Are you hungry?"

I walked around the shop, hunched over. Then, I found a kitten huddled between the neighboring bun shop and Arisudo.

"Oh my, this little one...!"

The kitten was huddled where Mr. Filio had gently reached out his hand. Its round eyes were made of machinery. It looked like a mechanical kitten.

The mechanical eyes flickered red as if in fear, and it let out a cry toward Mr. Filio. A mechanical kitten letting out a sad cry. Mr. Filio spoke to the kitten, which looked sad and a little frightened, even more gently.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'll help you now. Let's go to the shop with me."

The kitten, out of sheer fear, opened its small mouth wide and hissed at Mr. Filio.

"Oh my, there's a malfunction in your behavioral program... Could that be why you were abandoned?"

Ignoring the fact that he was being scratched, Mr. Filio gently picked up the kitten.

The kitten was a high-performance AI-equipped kitten-type pet android made by TONY, which had been a huge hit a while ago. Pet androids were supposed to be adjusted to have quiet and gentle personalities to reduce the burden on their owners. Although they were equipped with lifelike features, they were never supposed to act aggressively toward humans. However, the kitten he was holding now clearly felt fear and was showing an aggressive reaction toward humans. In other words, it was a defective product with a behavioral program error. When he checked the kitten's abdomen, it looked like a very old type, and one from a series that had already been discontinued.

Strangely, there had been no reports from the manufacturer that this type of "product" had errors, and no recall notices had been issued. So, Mr. Filio decided to take the kitten in and repair it himself.

Mr. Filio returned to the shop with the kitten, brought it into his appliance repair workshop, and laid it gently on the workbench. The light in the kitten's eyes went out, and after a single "mew..." sound, silence fell over the workshop.

He skillfully, yet gently and carefully, removed the parts of the kitten's body. Eventually, he removed what could be called its heart—the circuit board—from the kitten's body and began the repair work with caution. He connected the board to his favorite PC and various measuring instruments, and with tweezers and a soldering iron in his hands... he looked just like a doctor wielding a scalpel in an operating room.

"It's okay. You'll be better soon. And then... I'll try to find a foster home for you."

After finishing the repair of the circuit board, he started treating the kitten's body. He replaced the eye lamps with new ones and used faux fur salvaged from a high-end massage chair to make it look brand new. The work proceeded steadily.

Tick-tock, tick-tock... the wall clock marked the time. Tick-tock-tock... time passed further. Tick.

"Phew, the repair... no, the treatment went well. All that's left is to put this back inside you and insert a new battery, and it'll be finished."

With a click, he set the circuit board and closed the cover on its stomach. When he turned on the switch at the base of its tail, the system startup sound played with a "beep!" and light returned to the kitten's eyes. The kitten let out a single "meow."

As a result of Philio-san's devoted efforts, the kitten was successfully revived.

"Well, you've only just recovered from your injuries, but... why don't we go for a little walk as part of your rehabilitation?"

Yasube-san, the president and manager of Arisudo Home Appliances, is scheduled to arrive at the office this afternoon.
Since the president isn't here, I can't leave the shop unattended.
So, I'll check the kitten's movements in front of the shop.

"Now then, as for your name... ah, that's right. It would be best to have your new owner give you one."

Since I am not going to be this child's foster parent, I decided to 'hold off' on giving it a name.

After checking a few of the kitten's movements, Philio-san nodded with satisfaction, picked up its small body, and started to head back into the shop.

Beep beep!
A wagon drove down the not-so-wide shopping street.
The logo of 'TONY Corp.' was written on its body.

"!!!"

Philio-san was a little surprised.

The people in the car I saw just as it passed by.
The expressions on the two of them looked strangely anxious.
They seemed to be shouting something in a rapid-fire manner.

Seeing that, Philio-san muttered to himself and looked down.

"The people from the company that created you seemed quite anxious. But they weren't driving around looking for you."

If the kitten android had been their objective, they would have noticed it since Philio-san was holding it.

Just before the wagon passed by, a middle-aged couple was reflected in the side mirror.

On the way into the shop while carrying the kitten, the couple from earlier passed by Philio-san.
The couple bowed to Philio-san and walked past with friendly smiles on their faces.

"What a lovely couple. I wonder if Yasube-san and I could be like that..."

As he said that, Philio-san suddenly turned bright red and rushed into the shop.

After that, with a lunch break in between, a peaceful time slowly passed for Philio-san and the kitten.

Philio-san spoke many words to the kitten.
The kitten was equipped with a high-performance AI, and thanks to the language learning function built into it, it had the ability to speak human language, much like a toddler learning to talk.
Of course, Philio-san was aware of this.
He had provided the language education knowing that.

If someone were to keep an android kitten, it would be impossible for them to be bothered by the kitten speaking human language.
That was what he thought.

After playing with the kitten for a while, the afternoon's work began.

Mr. Yasu, the company president, arrived at the office.

"Good morning, Filio. I believe you have an outside appointment after this, right?"

"Oh, good morning, Mr. Yasu. Yes, I'm heading to Manjiya now. I think it will just be a business meeting today."

"I'm counting on you. They've been a long-time client, so make sure you don't be rude."

Filio rarely made mistakes, but Mr. Yasu spoke up just in case.

"I'm off."

Filio got into the company car with the kitten and drove off.
Purchased 15 years ago, the beat-up light van rumbled as it departed.

Arisudo, a poor company, could not afford the recently popular Auto-Drive Hover Vehicles.

Arriving at Manjiya, the kitten stayed quietly in the car.
It waited for Filio to return.

"Fili...o. The person... who fixed me. I am... a cat. I am, I am... a mechanical cat."

Inside the mechanical kitten's electronic brain, a new "self" was beginning to emerge.

The kitten was sleeping quietly in the car.
And when Filio returned after finishing his meeting, he gently stroked the kitten's body.

"Yes, yes. You were a good boy. When we get back to the shop, I'll give you a mouse toy as a reward."

Emotional education was necessary even for a mechanical kitten.
This was because its advanced AI was reproducing basic behaviors of a living creature.
It was a necessary function for interacting with its owner as well.

After returning to the Arisudo shop, the sun was setting and closing time was approaching.

"Oh, that's right. I have to find a foster home for the kitten. I think I'll start by putting up a flyer."

And so, Filio drew a poster to find a foster home for the kitten with decent artistic sense.

He stuck the poster onto the glass window at the entrance.

"I hope your new parents show up soon."

Filio-san lifts the kitten by its sides and stares intently at its face.
For some reason, he looks a little lonely.

"For now, you're staying at my place tonight."

Filio-san then returned home with the kitten, showered it with all the affection he could, and even slept with it in his bed, dreaming a happy dream.

The next morning, Filio-san woke up to the kitten licking his face.

"Hehe. That tickles. Oh, you woke me up, didn't you? Thank you."

He gave the kitten some artificial animal food for androids, then quickly got himself ready and had breakfast.

"Well then, time to work hard again today. I'll take you with me, so just act like a shop cat for now, okay?"

He said it without much thought, but to his surprise, the kitten reacted and spoke clearly in human language.

"...Understood, meow. I want to be useful to you, Filio-san, meow."

Filio-san was shocked by this.
Against all odds, a genius kitten was born.

With his eyes wide in utter astonishment, Filio-san entered the shop and began his work for the day.

He stood at the storefront and did his cleaning as usual.
Beside him, the kitten waited with a rag in its mouth.

"Arisudo in your neighborhood~. For all your home appliance needs, Arisudo~."

Singing the catchphrase, Filio-san demonstrated his Grade 2 Housekeeper skills again today.

The kitten's eyes glowed in shiny search mode.

"Filio-san, I found trash behind the signboard on the upper right."

It didn't miss any remaining trash.
Filio-san was very satisfied with the kitten's performance.

When the morning routine was finished,

"Um, excuse me. Is this kitten the one from the adoption poster?"

A middle-aged couple who looked somewhat familiar approached me.

I was a bit surprised, Mr. Filio.
I doubted my ears for a moment, wondering what they were talking about, but I quickly remembered and guided the couple into the shop.

"Please, have a seat... I'm sorry it's so cramped. Oh, I'll bring you some tea now."

"No, no, please don't bother. We fell in love with this little kitten at first sight."

The lady said with sparkling eyes.
Although she looked middle-aged, she had an atmosphere about her like a young girl.

"We don't have any children, you see. We thought we'd like to live our lives pouring our affection into at least a small animal."

The husband said that with a smile.

He was also a mysterious man who didn't seem to show his age at all.

Both of them had gentle expressions, and gray hair could be seen here and there.

When Mr. Filio placed the teacups on the table, the two bowed their heads slightly and began to speak again.

"...Yes, we have plenty of space at home for this little one to play, and there are no other residences in the neighborhood besides ours."

"Oh, I see. Then the issues regarding the pet ownership ordinance are cleared. Oh, as you may know, this ordinance also applies to electronic pets and mechanical pets."

Mr. Filio was surprisingly well-versed in social norms and compliance.
He calmly proceeded to explain the pet-related matters to the couple.

He could even pass for a pet shop employee.

"Yes. That concludes the explanation regarding this little one. However... I must warn you about one thing."

Finally, Mr. Filio's voice trailed off, and his face darkened.

"What might that be?"

The lady asked, looking worried.

"Actually... this cat is a discontinued model that is no longer on the market. In other words, you cannot receive manufacturer support. Even so... will you still keep it?"

"Yes, that's fine. We will take care of this child until the very end. We are capable of that."

The master answers with his chest puffed out.

"And in the unlikely event that something happens, I can just bring it here, right?"

The middle-aged couple was persistent.
That was how the matter was settled, and the kitten was taken by the couple as they left the shop.

Just before they parted, Mr. Filio spoke to the kitten.

"Live well. And make sure you let your parents here shower you with lots of love."

A single glistening drop appeared in Mr. Filio's eyes.

The kitten responded to him and said,

"Filio... even when I'm gone, please stay well, meow."

"Waaaah... Waaaaah!"

Mr. Filio's tear ducts completely collapsed.

A privately owned hover vehicle was parked in front of the shop.
It seemed to be the couple's property.

(I see, they must be quite wealthy.)

Judging by the couple's attire and other factors, Mr. Filio assumed they were quite wealthy, and he felt relieved, thinking that the kitten would be able to live happily there.

After they left, Mr. Filio trudged back into the shop with weak, listless steps.

The manager, Mr. Anbe, had flown to a regional area for urgent business and had said he would be late returning to the shop.

During his lunch break, after eating his lunch all alone, Mr. Filio flopped onto the sofa, and for some reason, unable to overcome a sudden wave of sleepiness, he fell asleep right there.

The small TV in the office was left on.

That TV was broadcasting a certain news report.

"The two androids, a male and a female, that escaped from TONY Corporation's experimental building are still at large. It is reported that the two androids had AI malfunctions and were scheduled for repairs."

Then, footage of those androids was shown.
The two looked exactly like the middle-aged couple who had visited Arisudo Appliances, but Mr. Filio, having fallen asleep, did not notice.

The kitten was safely adopted, and though he felt lonely, Filio-san wished for its happiness.
(The End)
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"Author's Mutterings"This story is set as a prequel that took place long before the previously published "Shape of the Future". Filio, or "Tomoo Komiyama" in the story, is a collaborative appearance from another work. I would like to share the story about him as well once I have the chance to complete it. (It is another unfinished work left on the shelf.) While "Shape of the Future" is a 'sekai-kei' apocalyptic story, I tried to make this one a bit more mellow and melancholic.

To all the readers who read this again, thank you very much. <(_ _)>
If you liked this work...
I would appreciate your support through likes or follows.
Comments, whether sweet or spicy, are also very welcome.
It boosts my motivation and encourages me for my next writing project.
Well then, see you in the next article.
See you again !

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