Takuya felt his heart beating rapidly and his face was flustered as he thought about the moment earlier. That smile, from that girl, it was so beautiful. Like a scene out of a painting, just thinking about it is making his heart beat even faster.

"No, no, stop." He slapped himself, trying to snap out of it. "I mustn't...I can't."

But the only thing in his mind was the image of Ryuuko. He felt a tight pain in his chest. It was strange. It was familiar. Just like when...

BZZT BZZT

He suddenly felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out, fumbling as he looked at who it was.

"Yo, Takuya! How did it go?"

It was Juntaro. He was waving through the screen, the same stupid smile he usually has.

Takuya sighed. "What do you want senpai?"

"Hmm? Is something wrong? Your face is looking a little red. And your heart-rate is pretty high."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"I'm fine. I think I might have caught a cold."

"A cold? Haha, you're joking right? You know diseases don't exist in Artificial and even if it did, it wouldn't affect our bod-"

"Look, do you have something you need or are you just calling to bother me?" He asked, annoyed. He was getting tired of seeing his face.

"Okay, geez. Don't know what's riding up your ass. I just called to see how it went with Ryuuko. Is she feeling better?"

"I don't know." Takuya's eyes looked away.

"Really? Ah, well you think I should go apologize to her or something? Now that I think about it, I might have upset her a bit with what I said." Juntaro said as he scratched his head.

"As usual it takes you too long to notice. All of this could have been avoided if you had given a little thought before you opened your mouth, senpai." Takuya scoffed.

"Whatever. I'll do that later. Anyways, I'm going back to sleep." He yawned. "You guys woke me up in the middle of the god damn night."

"Blame that big bastard if you're going to blame anybody."

Juntaro laughed. "Oh by the way...,"

"What now?"

"I didn't know that was how you felt about us. I'm touched, that you still view us as humans. Hahaha!"

"YOU WERE LISTENING IN ON US?!"

"I'm signing off, bye!" Juntaro hung up as he ran away.

Takuya slid down to the ground.

"That damn son of a-..."

He was still flustered, and his heart was still beating madly. But as he continued to think about Ryuuko, a warm smile spread across his face.