personavelvetroomdr | habbby bdayy (closed to hamuko, ichinose and morning)

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habbby bdayy (closed to hamuko, ichinose and morning)

-----> 23rd may, in maruki's apartment

It was the 23rd of May.

Maruki had been keeping an eye on the dates for weeks now. A small, red circle marked the number neatly on the calendar that sat atop his study desk, drawn in with the same meticulous care he applied to nearly everything else in his life. He’d told himself—promised himself—that he’d come up with something thoughtful for Ichinose’s birthday. Something more than the usual gestures. Something that said he’d been paying attention.

There had been a few complications, of course.

Ichinose said she had arrived in summer, and there was always the chance she’d already celebrated her birthday before meeting them—quietly, or not at all. He had tried watching her closely on the 6th, just in case. But her expression hadn’t shifted. No sign of expectation. No sulking. No joy. Nothing that screamed "this is a day for me."

Maybe he should’ve wished her a happy birthday then and there. But back then, he had been swamped—tangled in his research, consumed by the ever-growing list of patients, papers, the mess of his project. And of course, Morning.

Morning had taken priority.

It hurt him to keep the boy in the dark for so long—the Akira from another universe who was his son inadvertedly, one he never expected to meet. Every instinct told him to protect, to nurture, to give. So that’s what he’d done. The kid had already missed too much. Maruki couldn’t let him miss anything else.

So yes. Life had been full. Bursting, even.

But today was for them.

-----

He had taken Morning along with him to the lab under the pretense of needing help with a light calibration test—some throwaway excuse he knew Morning wouldn’t question too deeply. Ichinose was already there when they arrived, nose-deep in her work, and Maruki only smiled faintly before excusing himself.

“Sorry, I’ve got to run a quick errand. Won’t be long,” he said, grabbing his coat. “Just don’t let Morning fall asleep in my chair again, yeah?”

Then he slipped out, coat flaring slightly behind him, and headed straight to the place where the real work was already underway.

-----

Back at his apartment, the lights were dimmed low to hide the still-in-progress decorations. Modest balloons, two cakes waiting in the fridge. There was even a small hand-made banner hung clumsily above the kitchen archway that read: Happy Birthday!!—with the letters slightly crooked in their tape. Not his best visual work, but it had heart.

Maruki stood near the window now and occasionally peeked through the peephole of the entrance door at every small sound from the hallway, every shuffle of feet. He spotted them just a block away. Not yet. Still a little time.

He turned back into the room, brushing off his hands and checking that the candles were still tucked safely in their packaging.

"Hamu—uh, Hamuko-san?" he called out softly toward the kitchen. "They’re on their way here. Just got the text." He had messaged them that he's out to get groceries.

He moved to adjust one of the streamers that had started drooping again—tape failing, or humidity, he couldn’t tell which.

“I think this might actually work,” he murmured, almost to himself. A faint, nervous smile tugged at his lips as he looked over everything one last time. The table was set. The gifts- to an extent, the food, the soft jazz in the background.

Now all that was left was for the door to open.

And the moment of surprise to land.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"No reason to be that formal with me by now, don't you think?"

Edited 2025-05-30 16:14 (UTC)

Though she was caught off guard, Ichinose started laughing in surprise. He kept catching her off guard, like that - what could she do but laugh?

"Hahah! Alright, alright. Then you should call me Kuon."

Maruki laughed along with her, thoroughly amused as he rested his elbows on the railing again- almost proud of himself. It made Ichinose laugh...better than being vexed with him. He could make small guesses of why she was expecting a different answer, he could already tell from the ongoing injustice brought about by her relatives and her social circle that she had only considered this relationship to be a transactional one.

To an extent, Takuto related to that considering his relationship with Akira-kun started similarly.

"Very nice to meet you, Kuon," he bows almost out of theatrics before rubbing at the bottom of his nose. "I would like to get to know you better for as long as time permits us."

"You're well invited, then," she chuckled fondly, perplexed by this funny, strange fellow. "You're far too interesting and strange for me to not keep poking and prodding at anyway. I'm afraid you're stuck with me, Takuto."

How strange, how fun, to say someone's first name with her mouth as a friend and as a peer for the first time in such a long time. Just like how the Thieves always called each other by their first names - even their grouchy cop tagalong.

"Good guess on the cakes, by the way - I love strawberries."

Takuto...

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to hear his first name like that and yet, his brows relaxed at the mention of it anyway. Like an invisible weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and into the air. It wasn't like back at school he hadn't reached first name basis...especially for mixers but that one was sincere. An actual connection to a step forward.

"Oh! Is that so!?" He perks up brightly. "I am glad to hear that...had to do a lot of guesswork to make sure I don't ruin the surprise before we get to the good part, you know?"

"Hopefully what I have next also satisfies you then- since I had to fill in a lot of gaps again."

"This has to be the present side of things - I can't see you as someone who would neglect that part of things either. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't find some excuse to give Hamuko-chan a gift, with your personality," Kuon teased with a chuckle.

A present for her, though... from someone that actually was very astute and knew her little intricacies and memorized things she told him. That was a bit exciting.

The teasing made his cheeks flush out of emabarassment. "Now that you mention it...I am boggled about getting her a gift. For now all I can do is get those silly snacks and cook- but I will figure something out one day! Don't tell her I said that to you though-!" He giggled at the end, like sharing a secret of utmost importance.

"Now, onto my primary reasons for inviting you here..."

He leaned away from the railing to go to one of his potted plants and picks an unassuming pot which at first glance only seems to have a polished teal-coloured ceramic-style resin body. Straightening up, he holds out the pot for her. "Ta-da!"

There's a small LED screen mounted at the centre of one of the faces that look like:

(－ω－) zzZ

There's a small flower sprout poking from the soil already, closed before the emoticon on the screen shifts to a different expression:

(o ω－) z??

"Oh uh...it's sleeping," he mutters quietly as the pixel art shifts back to closing its eyes. "I didn't think it would have been that sensitive..."

"Oh? What is this? That's adorable!" Ichinose beamed, leaning in to admire the tiny screen and perky little baby plant. "Anthropomorphizing a plant... wait a minute, this is about that comment I made about struggling to keep plants alive, isn't it?"

Maruki theatrically looked away with a small grin. "Noooooo, totally not related to that..."

"I like that you remember little details of our conversations," Ichinose chuckled, gently taking the little pot from Maruki's hands to hold it in hers. "So, how does this little thing work? Just emoting based on movement and time of day, or light exposure?"

Ichinose's comment made him pause for a bit, tilting his head just a little in question at her observation. Did people truly not hear her out often-? That sounds...painful. Having no one to confide your feelings in- is that why she always got caught off guard?

"A little bit of all," he admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I don't know actual coding but I used cognitive pscience to sort of fill in the gaps. It can read the water level in the soil- pinpointing whether its thirsty or not. All elements depend on the plant inside the pot."

"That said...there's a bit of a problem with it," he shook his head and closed his eyes in defeat. "It's not accurate all the time and I didn't really get the time to fix all the intricacies in time. I couldn't delay your gift any later than this after all."

"Oooh, so you've gotten me a present and a fun little project to tinker with...! Two gifts in one," she hummed approvingly. It didn't seem sarcastic, either - she was already eyeing it diligently, curious, spotting where to plug a cord in to connect to a computer. Hoh hoh... she didn't have to take it apart to tinker, then - people always hated when she took apart things they gave to her. She never understood it, she always managed to put them back together - it was just proof they got her something interesting!

Oh good. She liked the challenge.

Maruki wasn't lying...really. More like omitting out the truth for her sake and really he had gambled on the possibility of her getting annoyed by the gift too- so lo and behold! He predicted correctly...she liked solving things. The AI she created was to solve the underlying issue with humanity and its nature to draw itself towards its pain- she wanted to study it and erase it.

It was nice...to be on that wavelength. To understand that wavelength from a different lens.

"It's as they say...imagination's the limit with these types of things. I tried to do my best replicating how an actual program would work but this is as far as I could go to."

"Do you like it?" He asks, sincerely and genuinely. If he could get the okay this way, he could understand her more. He could help her achieve her true state of happiness. He's sure of it!

"It's cute! And in my favorite color, too, I don't think I ever said that out loud. You just guessed on my vibes, like the kids say," she snickered, cozily cradling the pot in her hands. Hey, AI was the perfect way to adjust for her shortcomings with plant care.

"I almost want to run off with it and get started now! But heheh. I'll save it - I'll need a pleasant break from plugging away at what the apocalypse dogs want me to code."

Hmm, was that nickname derisive? She didn't really feel that spicy towards the AI, she was just doing her job - but maybe it was too affectionate for that violent asshole.

"I could probably program something and make quite a few of these that could be adjusted for the needs of any kind of plant - then we could have a bit of fun testing that. Might be a good project for Morning to plug away at with coding, too, since he's also picking it up."

"Oh, you like teal too? While I am not too picky about colours, I find that tone quite soothing. I guess things worked out nicely on that front-!" He explained blatantly, finding it a little cute that they had the same opinion about the colour. He would go for something like white or beige or yellow too- anything that was classy and easy on the eyes was welcome.

At the mention of the Hasegawas, his expression sombered. "They are giving you a hard time, huh?" Well, he's not sure he could blame any of the parties for behaving the way they did...a few more than others had to be handled with more care however.

He listened to Ichinose's plan, imagining it in a seperate scenario- "Are you suggesting a nursery?"

"Heheheh. Yes, a nursery. The kind for plants, that is. Wouldn't that be a lively little thing? We could set it up in your lab, or maybe appropriate some greenhouse that some of the memories-of-people are inhabiting."

She didn't care too terribly much about displacing those not-people, after all, even if she knew Takuto was kind enough to think to tip them.

"I am afraid my lab would reflect my bias so unless you want pitch perfect plants with no effort- I would suggest maintaining a seperate greenhouse. We can buy- I mean, reserve one with no costs," he corrects himself with a firm nod as he crosses his arms to his chest. "We would have to arrange soil, weather protection, appropriate cooling, fertilizers...I say its worth a shot to do it in a non-cognitive environment. I think its wonderful being able to knock at all qualities and prequisitics needed to grow a healthy plant!"

"This can be our prototype," he smiles as he gestures at the pot. "I have had a few ideas with its names but I am stuck with which one to choose out of the five..."

"And a nice way to not get cabin fever. I haven't had any issues yet, since I'm used to getting sucked into long hours of coding... but I know it's best if I get dragged out sometimes, too."

And it's a nice little excuse to delay finishing the coding project for a bit, to still be 'useful' to the Hasegawas until her robot is finished and can protect her.

"Hmm... that other project, too... the cognitive framework AI, in a bot... I think the nursery might be a good way to foster a sense of nurturing and care in them pretty naturally. If mapping your brain scan actually can grant them a natural ability to empathize, that is."

Honestly? If it were back home, Maruki would easily relate with remaining barred to his research and rarely getting into something as large scale as a greenhouse.

At the mention of the cognitive framework AI, she had his full attention alright-! What a fascinating project they had coined together so far and with their skills combined, the result could be just as intriguing or mind-boggling as the nature of this place. How wonderful it was to sought out a being from thought itself. The idea of it was just as convincing as he's sure it would be in execution.

That said... "Am I only the one putting my brain in a petri dish?"

"To make a fully realized and self sufficient intelligence... specifically, one with a heart... well, we can't do that with a scan of me, can we?" Ichinose shrugged easily. "You're the one with the heart. We need your mind."

Maruki hummed, not sounding as convinced as he scratches at the light facial hair under his chin. "I-is that so?"

"And how would we handle the emotional asymmetry if its identity and heart are solely related to me? I mean...just as a thought experiment—

If we're really trying to model something like a 'heart,' I don’t know that empathy alone gets us there. Or at least, not my version of it." He tries to get a read of what exactly is Ichinose thinking- trying to understand her intentions.

"I don't understand why we don't need your mind."

"Hmm, true... and it's not as though I'm devoid of critical thinking or anything like that," she hummed in thought. Being heartless really isn't that different, right? If EMMA thinks that humanity doesn't need their hearts, it means that Ichinose herself has always been just fine.

"And the actualization going on with Morning unfortunately make him suboptimal... though scanning his mind might still prove interesting in seeing the physical effects of a roughshod actualization compared to a properly done one."

At the mention of the physical effects, Maruki's expression drops. He's reminded of the time when he had seen actualized persons and their cognition first hand through the eyes of Azathoth...it wasn't exactly a pretty sight.

He looks away, expression sombering as he goes over to lean on the railing again. "I know how the physical effects look," Takuto murmurs in a resigned tone. "His mind reflects that of a child...far before the years of adolescence. I know exactly what to avoid when it comes to fuelling the artificial intelligence so no need to worry there." His glasses reflected away the dazzling lights of his neighbourhood as he adjusted them before they got too clouded for Ichinose to percieve him.

"Besides," he straightens up- forcing himself to cheer up before he gets too wrapped up in his other self's mistakes. "I have you and your brain scan to keep myself in check, don't I? Not like I am saying we have to blend everything from the start, or even scan both of us. I just think... maybe we stay open to the idea that building something whole might take more than just the soft parts."

After all, pain isn’t just something I want to erase—it’s also something I’ve spent years trying to understand. The complexity of the matter might be worth it in the long run."

Ahh, so he might be insecure about the other world Maruki's failures, even if he isn't the same as that man. Ichinose can't quite grasp the feeling... if there's another world 'her', that's still a whole separate person prone to her own foibles, right? But nonetheless, Takuto here was bothered by seeing other Marukis utterly fail.

"Hmm, true... I think we have a good potential balance in our strengths as is. Maybe mixing the two scans would make for a more stable person at the end," she conceded a bit. Maruki was a bit... pie-in-the-sky, and her own problem-solving level-headedness might temper that in a new AI. "And it isn't as though I want to make a straight copy of you, either - that's not the purpose of it. Especially if you're wanting to see if we can give a permanency to the cognitive people in this place."

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