Chapter 3 - Aigis: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheeps?

Midnight, free to rest and sleep for all S.E.E.S. The silence of the residence kept awake to the naturally curious Aigis. Usually she would be in her room analyzing all the data from her day in the academy but there was something that restrained her from her task, a little sound across the wall from her metallic quarter.Aigis walked across the aisle with her usual inexpressive face. The darkness that surrounded her didn't seem to bother her, she simply activated her night vision and continued her little investigation. A voice was all Aigis heard, a little voice that kept muttering to itself. Aigis could module her voice volume easily from her inner speaker; it was functional whenever Makoto or YN needed the so-called "Verbal motivation" that only humans seemed to need to hear.Quickly she noticed whose members belonged to. They were from YN, an active member of S.E.E.S and so call "friend". Aigis looked with curiosity at the wooden door in front of her. She wanted to enter to see if her companion was in a good condition. In her understanding, the humans seemed to need a night cycle to generate the lost cells from the day cycle. Isn't YN able to conclude his sleeping schedule correctly? Aigis placed her cold metallic hand to latch. She doubted for a moment, she knew that it wasn't right to enter someone's room without their permission, even less if it was one of her friends. Instead, she knock three times.TapTapTapNo response, just the same mumbling from YN. Aigis needed to enter to confirm his well-being, it was part of her programming after all to assist any member of S.E.E.S if any risky situation happened, but, this was a risky situation?, fighting and climbing tartarus surely was one, but this? Aigis didn't seem to understand humans more than the biological side of them, they were like robots, built like the same Aigis but with other material, a weaker one.Aigis was about to place her hand on the latch once more when the door opened suddenly, her artificial face was exposed to a large light source, something so warm hitting something so cold. Aigis looked surprised at an exhausted YN who noticed her with his eyes full of fatigue and bags under his eyes."Aigis?What are you doing here? It's like 3 A.M.""My apologies YN, i was about to do my usual analysis in my room when a slight sound interrupted me, i suppose it was you." Aigis blinked without making another expression on her face, taking the boy by surprise."Oh, I'm sorry , Aigis. I think i know what you mean, it's just i was having nightmares…More than usual actually. I will try to not bother you with that."Aigis planted her view directly to him. YN could only see the blue iris of her cybernetic eyes moving like if it was a micro galaxy, all between lights and shines."Nightmares? Its psychological concept is associated with dreams. Need some assistance to get rid of the so-called nightmares?""I-I don't think you could help me in that Aigis, although i appreciate your concern." YN smiled slightly before closing his door slowly."I will see you in the morning, Aigis. Good night." Aigis just nodded, waiting for the door to close. Being surrounded by the darkness of the hall, making her activate her night vision again."Nightmares…" When Aigis was about to walk towards her room, a little ball of fur walked across her metallic legs, taking quick notice of the little fur friend, Koromaru."Would you like to spend the rest of the night in room Koromaru?"The canine just grumbles before following Aigis back to her room.Aigis was constantly turning her head from her seat. The school wasn't something that she needed to do estrictly, it was more like an excuse to be by Makoto's side and develop new social links, but since she entered her classes a little feeling inside of her was growing slowly. She turned towards YN who was in one of the back seats of the classroom, his exhausted frown and his eyes fighting with all his will to keep them open made Aigis feel weird, that weird feeling that she only felt in Tartarus…"YN, I see that you have been missing the attention calls about sleeping in class." Aigis quickly looked to the front, noticing her school tutor, Isako sighing in frustration. "Go to the bathroom and try to keep yourself awake, don't come back until you can resist the rest of the class."Aigis just saw how the male figure exit the classroom without a word, his walk was hurried and clumsy. She turned towards Makoto, who only blinked and signed worriedly."Sleep…""Is something wrong Aigis? You seem a lot… weirder than usual." Junpei's voice made her realize where she was, the constant worrying about YN well-being seemed to take her attention off the exterior."My apologies Junpei. It's just that I find myself between a complex problem and my knowledge doesn't seem to be enough." Aigis said before seeing all the halls of the academy starting to empty itself."Complex problem? What kind of problems do you have with Aigis? Aren't you some kind of supercomputer or something like that?" Junpei tried to joke around but he only received as a response a slight hit on his elbow from Yukari, Aigis just paid attention towards the weird couple."Junpei, don't be mean!Don't listen to him, Aigis, but I kinda agree with him. What problems have you worried about?" Aigis just looked to the pair with her serious face, something so paradox with how she felt inside."It's about the user IN. Yesterday before I started my analysis routine, I was interrupted by some weird noises coming from his room. I tried to investigate with a little interview with him but i only discovered that the called nightmares is what user YN is experienced.""Nightmares? Damn, it was weird to see him so sleepy in class." Junpei said with a clearly worried look on his face. Aigis just paid attention to the movement of his face, they seem to express something so complex with so little."But then. What is the thing that worries you Aigis?Are you worried about YN not resting well?"For the first time Aigis doesn't seem to have a clear answer. She was worried about YN, wasn't she? She was supposed to, his notes and fighting skills were compromised, today was the proof of that, but was really that the reason she was so nervous?, was that the reason she felt a little stitch in the designated place for a "heart" on her cold and metallic body?Before she could ask more questions, Junpei brought her back from her cybernetic mind the moment he placed a hand on her shoulder."Dont worry Aigis, i think i have the solution."Aigis looked curious at Makoto's computer. She didn't seem to do anything, she was just sitting there on a chair while looking at millions of windows closing and opening at high speed, with the only thing interacting being a rather large wire that came out from her neck and connected directly to the CPU. Makoto and Junpei were just looking nervous at the android who searched across the internet."W-What is she doing?" Makoto asked while scratching his head nervously."I-I told her she could search on that internet thing for something related to sleep, but I never thought something like this would happen. It's weird."Aigis didn't seem to move. Her eyes were simply navigating all across the LCD screen. Words like "sleep", "cares", "nightmares" and "getting rid of.." could be seen by the two boys."Think she could break your computer?" Junpei asked, hearing just a groan from his friend."My Innocent Sin Online account…"Silence. No noise could be heard around the halls of the dorm. Aigis took a short walk before reaching her spot. The same old wooden door from yesterday. Aigis didn't lose any time and knocked gently on his door.TapTapTapThree simple knocks could be heard in a silent building. Aigis waited for YN to open her the door, she was expecting at least a brief moment to help him out. YN should be awake, the light from his lightbulb was still on.All the information that she found online could be helpful tonight, but everything seems to conclude in one simple action that Yukari, Junpei and the rest of S.E.E.S seemed to agree on.YN finally opened the door, again seeing the robot girl with her usual serious and inexpressive face, like some kind of deja vu."Aigis?""Good evening YN, I'm sorry to interrupt you in these hours but being aware of your problems related to the nightmares, I consulted with a few professionals online and the rest of S.E.E.S to reach a satisfactory solution." Aigis said while entering his room slowly, taking seat on the border of his bed, which was a disaster."Solution?, wait, did you tell the rest of the team about my nightmares?" Aigis nodded, caressing her hand all across the bed, she didn't had a developed touch, but she could swear that in inside of the pile of wires and electric circuit that was her body, she could feel the threads of his blanket"I'm conscious of my status as an android and the limitations that the psychological and mental problems have in me. But…as your friend I would like to be your assistant for you."YN was surprised by the revelation and sincerity in the words of that android. Aigis could swear that unconsciously she was smiling, her eyes showed worry and compassion. Inside of him, it seemed weird that something so metallic showed worry for him, but at the same time, he thought he could give her a chance."Very well Aigis."Aigis looked at YN's body breathing peacefully, his movements were slow, his vital signs also were in order. He was resting his head on her legs while she was sitting on the edge of his bed.The girl paid attention to her hands for a moment, the holes in the tip of her fingers were lethal to the shadows, the ammunition created specifically to exterminate them always launched at full speed, her fingers were made to create violence to those creatures but tonight, they will fulfill another function. Carefully and aware of the weight they had, she started to play with his strands of hair all across his head. She paid attention to how the hair seemed to move across her fingers without problems. She could swear that across the metal, she could feel every single hair at once. She could feel beyond the metal.Slowly, she started to close her eyes in a different but no risky way.At the end, Agis deserved to rest too.